


Hiding in the Shadows

by F1_rabbit



Category: Motorcycling RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Blood Drinking, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 14:41:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17163863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/pseuds/F1_rabbit
Summary: Alex longs for something more than a life of hiding from humanity, but his big brother Jorge doesn't trust him to be around humans without drinking their blood...





	1. Fascination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fleurykat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleurykat/gifts).



> Happy Holidays sweetie! 🎄❄⛄⭐❤
> 
> And apologies, this was meant to be posted on the 25th, which has been and gone in my timezone. I had hoped to do the final editing and polishing while travelling to and from my in-laws... but I forgot to put the doc on my mobile :(
> 
> Also, this got long (famous last words :P) So, there are more chapters to come!

“I’m hungry.” Alex batted his eyelashes, and Jorge knew that look. He had to feed his brother, and fast.

“Get your coat, I’ll drive.”

“Thank you.” Alex leapt in for a hug, and Jorge tried to keep the look of worry off his face.

The drive was short, and once they were parked up, Jorge stared at Alex, making sure he saw the seriousness of the situation.

"Follow me, and don't talk to anyone, okay?"

"Okay."

Jorge bit at his lip, and Alex smiled, his dorky grin that made him look so innocent.

"I promise I'll behave." Alex crossed his fingers over his heart, and Jorge snorted in laughter.

"Thank you."

*

"Hi, Jorge, working a double?" A pretty doctor wandered up to him, Jorge couldn't remember her name, but he was sure she worked in emergency.

"Just checking up on some paperwork from earlier."

He turned round to make sure that Alex was behaving, but he was already gone.

"Typical."

*

Alex knew he shouldn't wander off, but the second he felt the boy’s energy he was drawn to him, his sweet scent pulling Alex closer until he was standing at the door to his room.

He couldn’t have been much older than twenty, and he was laughing even though he was wearing an oxygen mask. Two guys sat either side of his bed, and from the way they were talking to each other, they were clearly good friends. The dark haired one looked like he could be his brother, and the blond guy didn't quite look like them, but he the way he held the boy's hand, he clearly cared about him.

"Hi, can I help you?" dark-haired guy asked.

"I..." Alex stepped closer, gazing into the boy's speckled green and hazel eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"Asthma." His voice was muffled by the oxygen mask, but it was still the most beautiful sound.

"I'm sorry."

"There you are."

Alex froze at the sound of Jorge's voice, he knew he was in trouble, but he couldn't help himself.

"You're the nurse from earlier, is everything okay?" Dark haired guy stood up so that Jorge could check the chart, and Jorge looked relieved that the conversation was on familiar ground.

"Yes, I just came to check how Alex was doing before my shift ended."

"Better." The human Alex smiled, and Alex was fascinated by him.

"My name's Alex too." He went to step closer, but Jorge's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Sorry, this is my baby brother, he was meant to be studying while I finished up, but he wandered off." Jorge glared at him, and Alex turned to face him.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I'll see you guys tomorrow, if you need anything, just hit the button." Jorge waved goodbye, dragging Alex out by the wrist, and he was glad that he could no longer bruise.

Jorge led him to a quiet corridor, and he glanced around before swiping his pass at the door.

Inside the room it was cool, the walls lined with racks of blood bags, and Alex ran his tongue over his fangs, unable to control them now the hunger had taken over.

"Here, eat." Jorge checked the code on the bag before handing it to him and Alex devoured the contents without hesitation, sucking it dry as he felt the urges fade.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see the human."

"It's okay." Jorge stroked the side of his face. "But humans are trouble, I only work with them so that we can survive."

"I know." Alex rushed in for a hug, and Jorge ruffled his curls, making him feel like a child again.

"We should get out of here before anyone else comes to get blood." Jorge stuffed his rucksack full of blood bags, and Alex licked his lips, dizzy with the blood rush.

"Won’t they miss that much blood?"

"It's all out of date." Jorge scribbled something on the sheet of paper that was pinned up by the door, and Alex failed to read a single thing on the sheet, all the handwriting varying degrees of illegible.

Alex waited while Jorge peeked out of the door, nodding when the coast was clear, and Alex shadowed him the entire way out of the hospital, resisting the urge to go back and see the other Alex.

*

Alex watched as Jorge stocked the fridge in their small apartment, before making sure the padlock was secure.

"It's not that I don't trust you…" Jorge hung his head, and Alex knew what they had to do to survive.

"We need to ration the blood we can get, I know."

"I'm sorry, I never wanted you to live this way."

Alex rushed in for a hug, holding his brother tight as the tears of blood streaked down his cheeks.

"I would rather have this life, than none at all."

***

Alex gazed longingly at the fridge, the urges growing stronger as he thought about the boy that he had met last night at the hospital. The human Alex.

The sun was streaming through the holes in the blinds, and he grabbed his sunglasses, pausing at the door as he thought about seeing human Alex again.

He knew Jorge would be mad if he left the flat alone, but he couldn't help himself, his feet moving as though they were possessed, and before he knew it he was standing outside the hospital, hoping that Jorge was busy with other patients today.

Slinking in the service entrance, he followed his nose, the sweet smell leading him to the other Alex.

He was in a different room, but he looked better today, less pale, although it was clear that even when he was well, his complexion was probably best described as ghost like.

His friends weren't around, and Alex watched him for a long time, fascinated by the way that he breathed, such a human thing to do.

"Hi." Human Alex waved to him, and Alex blushed, caught in the act.

"Hi."

"Do you want to join me?" Human Alex patted the bed, and Alex glanced around, checking that there was no sign of Jorge before stepping into the room.

"I won't tell your brother you were here." He pressed his fingers to his lips, smiling as Alex did the same.

"Thank you."

Human Alex sat up, and Alex could see the effort that it took him, his chest heaving as though he'd just run for the bus.

“Are you a nurse like your brother?”

"No, I'm a student." It wasn't a lie, although all the studying he did was at home, through a laptop, Jorge unable to trust him in a place filled with humans.

"So am I, well, I was before I got sick." Human Alex fidgeted with his IV line.

Alex reached out to hold his hand, the feel of blood pumping through his veins dizzying.

"I haven't been to classes in months."

"What were you studying?"

"Mechanical engineering." Human Alex smiled, a lop-sided grin that had Alex feeling something that he'd never felt before, a longing that wasn't hunger.

"What do you study?"

"Computing." With the rise of technology, it had become harder to live in the shadows, and Alex had learned how to use computers so that they could have ID that looked valid, and change records so that Jorge could get jobs to support them.

"I've always wanted to make video games."

"Not that kind of computing, the boring kind." Alex snorted in laughter, and it made human Alex smile too, both of them grinning when Jorge wandered in.

"How are you doing today?" Jorge looked up from the clipboard, and he froze when he saw Alex sitting there, wishing that vampires really could turn into a bat so that he could escape.

"Jorge, I'm sorry."

"We'll talk about this later." Jorge compressed his lips, and Alex knew that he was in a lot of trouble.

"I'll go home."

"I'll drive you."

*

Alex had spent the afternoon locked in the flat, pacing up and down as he waited for Jorge to get home.

The sun had long since set when Jorge returned, and he could see that Jorge had been worried, but he didn't understand why.

"Why did you come to the hospital? Were you hungry?"

"No, I just wanted to see the other Alex."

"Why?"

"I'm so lonely here. You're always at work, and I'm not allowed to talk to anyone."

"I..."

"You can't trust me." Alex compressed his lips, his eyes wide as he challenged Jorge to admit it.

"I couldn't take it if anything happened to you, and if humans find out what we are... that doesn't bear thinking about it."

"I miss being around others, talking to people that aren't you."

"Bored of me?" Jorge tried to sound joking, but he couldn't keep the worry out of his voice.

"That was my first conversation with anyone other than you in nearly thirty years."

Jorge frowned, the eighties was so long ago, they'd lived with other vampires in a nest, but then the city had demolished the building, and they'd all been forced to go their separate ways.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to protect you, but I never wanted you to be a prisoner." Tears of blood ran down Jorge's cheeks, and Alex rushed in for a hug, the tears flowing now that he'd talked about his feelings.

"What can I do?"

"I want to go to university, like a normal human my age."

"You're over a hundred years old."

"But I look twenty-one." Alex smiled, fluttering his eyelashes as Jorge exhaled.

"Okay, you can go to university, but..."

"No drinking from the other students." Alex laughed, but Jorge wasn't amused.

"You can't tell anyone what we are."

"I promise I will keep us safe."

Jorge held Alex tight, but he could sense his unease, and he knew that he was going to have to be on his best behaviour around the humans.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


	2. Trust

September seemed like an eternity away, and Alex was restless, aware of his confinement.

He’d had a taste of freedom, and now he wanted more.

The sound of the front door closing had Alex stumbling over his own feet as he rushed to see Jorge.

“Missed me?” Jorge wrapped his arms around Alex, holding him tight, and Alex inhaled the scent of blood that lingered on him from the hospital.

“Always.”

“How did you go with your self control today?” Jorge ruffled his hair, and Alex couldn’t stop grinning, bouncing in the direction of the kitchen as Jorge rushed to follow.

“See, there’s still blood in the bag.” Alex held up a nearly full IV bag, filled to the brim with thick crimson liquid, deliciously warm in his hand from lying out all day.

At first, it had been hard to resist the temptation, his fangs shooting out the second that Jorge left, his fists clenched so tight that his nails dug crescents into his palms.

Days passed, and each time he managed a little longer before the urges began, his mind drawn to the blood as though it was calling out to him.

Then one day he didn’t think about it until Jorge was walking through the door, his attention all focused on making sure that he had enough records to actually enroll at a university. Well, as far as the university was concerned, he was transferring from another university, but he already had more than a degree’s worth of knowledge about all things computer related. He was going to university to learn something that no place officially offered.

He wanted to learn how to live among the humans.

And that meant being able to control his blood lust.

“Want to share it with me?” Alex held out the bag of blood, offering Jorge the first sip as proof that he was in control of his urges.

“Thank you.” Jorge looked down, and Alex could see the flicker of sadness that crossed his face, like the mere idea of Alex being allowed out alone caused him nothing but pain.

“I promise I can control myself.”

“I know, I can see how strong you’ve become.” Jorge reached out for the blood, his fangs starting to protrude as he brought the bag to his lips, taking a small sip before handing it back to Alex.

Alex felt Jorge’s eyes burning into his soul as he stared at him, watching him as though he was expecting him to fail.

He ran his tongue over his fangs, feeling them extend as the urges grew, and only the rush he felt when the taste of blood filled his mouth would satisfy them.

Alex felt time slow as he took a small sip, focusing on the moment so that he could sense when he’d had enough to sate his urges.

Licking his lips, he handed the bag back to Jorge, scared to look up at him in case he hadn’t passed his unspoken test.

And then Jorge rested his hand on his shoulder, leaning in so that he could whisper.

“I’m proud of you, baby brother.”

“Does this mean I can leave the flat? Please?” Alex fluttered his eyelashes, making Jorge snort in laughter before nodding.

“Yes, but you have to tell me where you are at all times.”

“Deal.” Alex let out a squeak of happiness, his grin cranked up to maximum, and he buried his face against Jorge’s chest as he hugged him tight.

“Where do you want to go with your new found freedom?”

“The hospital, to see human Alex.”

He had been all that Alex could think about, and he wanted nothing more than to see him again.

Jorge gave him a knowing smile, “I think they’re short staffed tonight.”

*

The drive wasn’t long, and Alex felt his excitement growing as they drew closer, his fangs poking at his lips as he struggled to keep them under control.

He kept his mouth shut, but he couldn’t fool Jorge.

“Drink the rest of this before you go in.” Jorge passed him the blood, hidden inside a juice carton so that no-one could see what they were really drinking.

Alex slurped it down, the rush of feeding paled in comparison to the excitement that he felt about seeing human Alex again.

He sucked up the last drops, before realising that he’d drank it all without thinking. That wasn’t the way to show that he was in control of his urges.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t leave you any.” Alex stared at his lap, but Jorge tilted his chin up so that he could look into his eyes.

“We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you.” Jorge stroked his cheek with his thumb, and Alex nodded, managing a small smile as the nerves faded.

“I can do this, I am in control.” Alex inhaled slowly, even though he had no need to breathe, and it was strangely relaxing.

“You’ve got a little-” Jorge wiped a smudge of blood from Alex’s lips, and Alex rushed to wipe his mouth, the fear building as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“I’m so nervous.”

“You’re going to be fine.” Jorge’s hands rested on his shoulders, his eyes dark in the low light of the dingy car park. “No matter what happens, I will protect you.”

Alex got a flash of Jorge going on a killing spree, shivering as though someone had rubbed an ice cube down his spine.

“Are you ready to do this?”

“I’m ready.”

*

Jorge held his hand tight as though he was a toddler that would wander off after the first shiny thing that he saw, which wasn’t far from the truth in a hospital.

Alex could smell the scent of human Alex as they got closer, the beat of his heart radiating out life and energy, and Alex stumbled over his own feet in his rush to get to him.

Jorge gently knocked on the door frame before strolling in, and human Alex took off his headphones, pausing the film that he was watching on his laptop.

“I have to work a double, and I need someone to keep Alex here from getting bored.” Jorge flashed his kind and caring smile, the one that reassured humans, and Alex was glad that Jorge was doing all the talking.

Human Alex smiled, a beautiful sight that would have set his heart racing if it still beat, and Alex knew that his dorkiest grin was shining out in response.

“I’m your guy, I’m so bored.” Human Alex shuffled over on the bed, making a space for Alex to sit next to him, and when Alex didn’t move he patted the bed.

“I’ll leave you guys to it.” Jorge shot Alex a look that was mostly worry and concern, which seemed to be Jorge’s default face at the moment.

Alex waited until Jorge had left before settling next to human Alex on the bed, the warmth of his skin dizzying, and he had to focus for a moment so that he could keep his urges under control.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“What were you watching?”

“A film about a blind guy.” Human Alex blushed, and Alex could sense the way that his heart rate quickened, his warm blood rushing through his veins. “Do you want to watch it with me?”

Alex smiled, nodding as he tried to make his mouth work, but he couldn’t find the words.

Human Alex handed him one of the headphones, his fingers like fire against his cool skin, and Alex had to compress his lips to stop his fangs from extending.

“You’re so cold.”

“It runs in the family.” Alex snorted in laughter, and human Alex took his hand, rubbing it between his own.

“Better?” His smile sent Alex’s mind into overdrive, his emotions running wild as he tried not to think about how much warm, tasty, blood was flowing through his veins.

Alex nodded, he couldn’t have spoken even if his life depended on it, and human Alex wriggled on the bed as he tried to get comfy, his IV line making everything awkward. In the end, he rested his arm on Alex’s knee, and Alex was glad that the film was in Portuguese, meaning he’d have to focus on the subtitles.

As the film went on, Alex could see why human Alex had been blushing. It was a love story about two teenage boys, and that wasn’t something that everyone accepted. Well, not everyone who was human.

Vampires and other immortals had seen it all, some literally, and Alex was sure that nothing could surprise him anymore.

Alex watched in fascination, despite the fact that he’d been on this earth for more than a hundred years, he’d never experienced love or romance. Not even a single kiss, although many people had offered over the years, but he’d never wanted to kiss any of them back.

Now, he longed to know what it would feel like to have Alex’s human lips pressed against his ice cold ones, to feel his pulse race as they kissed.

He heard human Alex gasp, shaking him out of his thoughts and he automatically covered his mouth for fear that his fangs were showing, but then human Alex slumped against his shoulder, his breathing steady as he slept.

The warmth of his skin was something that he’d missed. Last time he’d felt this, he’d still been human.

Had it really been a century?

Time did fly when you were an immortal.

Alex wrapped his arm around his sleeping beauty, delighting in the way that a smile crossed human Alex’s face as he cuddled in closer.

He was on the verge of sleep himself when Jorge appeared at the door, and the panic in Jorge’s eyes at the sight of human Alex’s body in his arms was like a slap to the face

“Is he…?” Jorge’s voice trembled as he frantically shut the blinds, and he rushed to see that human Alex was okay.

“He fell asleep.” Alex wriggled his arm free, laying human Alex’s head against the pillow as Jorge sat his laptop on the bedside cabinet. “We watched a film.”

“Did you have fun?” Jorge pulled the blanket up over human Alex, and he snored softly in his sleep.

“I did.” Alex smiled, before biting at his lip to show Jorge that he was in control.

“That’s time to go home, but I can bring you back tomorrow evening.”

“I’d like that.” Alex watched in fascination as human Alex breathed, his chest falling and rising rhythmically.

“Sweet dreams.”

***

Alex visited human Alex almost every day, to the point that his brother, Marc, and his friend, Tito, both recognised him now.

They teased him endlessly about how cute they were together, making human Alex blush, and Alex felt so embarrassed that he wished he could blush to burn off the energy.

Alex was relieved to see that human Alex was alone this evening, which meant that he could be his awkward self in all its glory without feeling self-conscious.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Human Alex rushed to sit up, closing his text book and sitting it aside as he made space for Alex on the bed.

“You’re looking good.” Human Alex blushed at the compliment, and Alex sensed his heart rate quickening.

“I’m getting better, and uni is going to let me resit the year that I missed.”

“I’ll see you there.” Alex shuffled onto the bed, letting human Alex get comfy as he cuddled in.

“It’ll be good to have a friend, no-one in my course even bothered to send me a message after I had to drop out this year.”

“Hopefully you’ll have better people as your classmates next year.” Alex reached out to hold his hand, delighting in the warmth of his skin.

“I hope so.” Human Alex stifled a yawn, his nose scrunched up in the most adorable way. “I thought about quitting, but I just want to finish what I started.”

Alex nodded, giving his hand a little squeeze as he felt human Alex’s pulse slow, his breathing evening out as he cuddled in against his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I’m so tired today.”

“That’s okay, it’s nice just to spend time with you.”

“I like spending time with you too.” Human Alex smiled, but it morphed into another yawn, and Alex knew that it was cruel to keep him awake much longer.

“Sleep, I’ll still be here when you wake up.” Alex stroked his hair, content to spend forever basking in this moment.

“Thank you.”

***

The start of term wasn’t far away. Alex had spent the last week registering for his courses, and now he was the proud owner of an official student ID card, that said he was twenty-one years old, just like most of the other students on his course.

Even the bright sun shining down on him, making his pale skin feel raw and burnt, couldn’t dampen his good mood, and at least he could wear his sunglasses without looking strange.

He was excited to show off his new student card, and he walked into the hospital with a grin on his face, hoping that human Alex would be alone so that he could sit next to him in the bed.

The smell of blood hit him as he walked into the hospital, much stronger than usual, and he saw red for a second.

When his vision cleared, he saw the waiting room filled with people, all with injuries that were oozing blood.

Alex compressed his lips, his fangs poking at his lips, and he balled his hands into fists as he fought against his urges, the little voice in his head telling him to drink their blood.

He knew how good it would feel, that moment of bliss when the blood rush took over and everything else faded away. Nothing compared to the rush of warm blood filling his mouth, satisfying his most primal urges.

“No.”

The words were little more than a whisper, his lips still covering his fangs, but that was all it took to snap him out of his trance.

He fled down the corridor, covering his mouth with his hand for fear that his fangs hadn’t retreated fully. Skidding round a corner, he smashed into a stretcher that was thankfully empty, but the noise of him falling to the floor, banging the stretcher against the wall, had a nurse running to help him.

“Jorge?”

Alex was dragged off his feet with such speed that he felt dizzy, and Jorge glanced around before shoving him into a small cupboard. Burying his face against Jorge’s shoulder, he could feel his worries, and the guilt rose up inside him.

“I’m sorry, I saw all the blood and...” Alex stepped back, wishing that his vampire eyes couldn’t see well in the dark, so that he wouldn’t have to see the pain that he’d caused Jorge.

“What happened?” Jorge wiped away the trickle of blood from his lip, his eyes wide with fear.

“I bit my lip.”

“Really? Is that all?” Jorge was staring into his eyes, and Alex felt like he was a little boy again, caught stealing freshly baked rolls as they cooled.

“Yes.” Alex’s lip trembled, a bloody tear running down his cheek as he wished that he could have Jorge’s control.

“I will protect you, no matter what happens.”

“There were so many injuries, and the smell of blood...” Alex paused as his fangs started to poke out again. “But I kept control of myself.”

“I’m proud of you.” Jorge pulled Alex into a hug, kissing his forehead as he stroked his wayward curls.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Jorge smiled, but it was short-lived, his beeper screaming for attention as he rushed to switch the alarm off.

Alex fidgeted on the spot, worrying that he wouldn’t be able to see human Alex with so much blood around.

“I have to go.” Jorge gave him a squeeze, and Alex clung to him, unwilling to let go. “You should go home.”

“I wanted to see Alex.” He hung his head, and he knew what Jorge’s response would be.

“Please, go home.” Jorge’s voice trembled, and Alex could hear the pain in his voice, he’d spent a century looking out for him, and all he’d done was cause trouble. “I can’t spend the rest of my shift worrying about you.”

“Okay.”

“Promise me.” Jorge stared into his eyes, and Alex nodded.

“I promise.”


	3. Crush

Alex paced around his bedroom, the floorboards creaking with each step. The tv was playing quietly in the living room, punctuated by Jorge laughing, and he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t see Jorge standing in the doorway until he spoke.

“Talk to me?”

Alex jumped, his eyes wide until he realised that there was no threat, and he slumped down on his bed with a sigh.

“What if I can’t control myself at uni?”

“You’ve already proved that you can.” Jorge’s voice was filled with pride, and Alex managed a little smile, but then his worries took over again.

“What if I can’t control myself around Alex?”

Jorge sat down next to him, and Alex cuddled in against his shoulder, Jorge stroking his back as he held him close.

“You were strong enough to walk away from a waiting room full of bloody injuries. You can cope around your human crush.”

Alex snorted in laughter, hearing Jorge use the word ‘crush’ was strangely modern of him.

“How do you know about crushes?”

“I’m a trendy, single, thirty-something nurse.” Jorge stuck his tongue out, making them both laugh.

“I never thought I’d be a student.”

“You’re going to have fun.” Jorge looked down at him, ruffling his wild curls, and Alex could feel the love.

“I will.”

“And no matter what happens, I will be here for you.”

Alex nodded, sitting back so that Jorge could see that he was calmer now.

“Love you.”

“Love you too, baby bro.” Jorge went to stand up, but Alex gave him a playful nudge.

“Hey, I’m one hundred and twenty-three years old.”

“Even in a thousand years, you will still be my baby brother.”

“I couldn’t ask for a better big brother.”

***

Alex tried to play it cool as he walked into uni, strolling through the main building, but he could smell human Alex, and he couldn’t stop himself from walking over to him.

Human Alex was standing by the noticeboard, peering at the timetable for the engineering labs.

He didn’t notice Alex standing next to him until he waved, and he jumped in fright before laughing.

“You should be a ninja.”

“Maybe I am?” Alex laughed, and human Alex laughed with him, his lop-sided smile the most beautiful sight in the world.

“I’ll have to keep an eye out for you.” Human Alex tried to wink, but he was too busy blushing, staring at his feet as Alex tried not to think about the way that human Alex’s heart raced, fuelling his pink cheeks.

Alex was glad that he felt arousal rather than hunger, but it didn’t stop him covering his crotch with his bag.

“It’s good to see you again.”

“I’m so nervous about being back.” Human Alex’s smile wavered, and Alex wanted to hug him, tell him that it would be all okay.

“Me too.”

Alex caught sight of a clock, the minute hand ticking over to 9:01, and he was torn between chatting to human Alex and going to his first actual class.

“I’ve got to get to class, but I’ll catch up with you later?”

“Sure, I’ll see you around.” Human Alex smiled, his eyes lingering as Alex turned to walk away.

“I’ll make sure you hear me coming.” Alex froze, his mind catching up with what he’d said.

Alex scurried down the corridor as fast as his legs could carry him, his mouth hanging open as he mentally chided himself for saying something so sexual, and he wasn't brave enough to look back and see if human Alex was smiling at his unintentional flirting.

The university was a maze, like a hamster cage with endless connecting tunnels, and just when Alex was about to give up hope of ever finding the right place, he saw the room that he’d been searching for.

Pushing at the door, it swung open far easier than he expected, and he stumbled into the lecture hall, landing face first at the feet of the lecturer as his new classmates laughed at him.

But even that couldn’t stop him smiling.

He was here, at uni, like a regular human, and best of all, his crush was studying here too.

*

Classes were easy, he knew it all, and he struggled to focus with so much warm blood flowing through his classmates’ veins, their human hearts beating so loud that he couldn’t hear what the lecturer was saying.

But he survived without flashing his fangs, or worse.

Lunch felt like a mad rush, students swarming everywhere, obscuring the smell of human Alex, and he stepped out to the gardens that surrounded a small lake, an oasis of calm amid the chaos of the university buildings.

He watched the swans with fascination, taking out his lunch that was hidden inside a metal water bottle. At least here he didn’t have to worry about anyone accidentally seeing what he was drinking.

Although given the fascination with energy drinks and protein shakes, he could probably pass blood off as some strange combination of the two.

The metallic tang of the blood was like heaven against his lips, and he savoured every sip, holding the bottle up so that he could get the last few drops.

“Hi.”

Alex jumped, covering his mouth as he pretended to be wiping his lips, making sure that his fangs weren’t on display before he turned to face human Alex.

“Are you the ninja now?” Alex laughed to hide his fright, and human Alex came to sit next to him on the bench, the warmth of his skin radiating out.

“I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay, I just needed a break from the crowds inside.”

“I know how you feel.” Human Alex shuffled closer, as though he wanted to cuddle in, but this wasn’t the hospital. “I’ve been back less than a day, and I’m already exhausted by it all.”

Alex nodded, not really understanding, but he wanted human Alex to know that he was listening.

He wanted to reach out and hold human Alex’s hand, feel the warmth of his skin. But even though they were alone apart from the swans, Alex felt like he was constantly being watched, the feeling of being the odd one out somehow stronger here than when he was locked away in the flat.

“At least Marc made sure I was prepared.” Human Alex held out something wrapped in foil, and Alex looked at it in fascination, unsure of what it was. “Would you like a bit of chocolate?”

“Thank you.” Alex snapped off a square, aware of human Alex watching him as he ate it, and the sweet creamy taste danced on his tongue.

He was sure that he’d seen Jorge with something similar at the hospital, making sure that the humans saw him eating so that they wouldn’t get suspicious, but Alex had never had the need to blend in.

Until now.

It was going to be a steep learning curve for him, but he knew that he could do it. He had to, because it was the only way that he could keep seeing human Alex.

They shared the chocolate, both eating in silence as they gave each other little glances, human Alex blushing every time he met his gaze.

Alex glanced at his watch, lunch time was rapidly ending, and he didn’t want it to be over just yet.

“Do you have to go?”

“Yeah.” Alex frowned at his watch, disappointed with time for carrying on when he wanted to spend a few more seconds with human Alex.

Alex went to stand up, his body hesitant to leave human Alex.

“Wait.” Human Alex reached out for his arm, and Alex dropped back down onto the bench so fast it creaked.

“Are you on Facebook?”

“No, I don’t do social media.” Alex knew that was strange, but the only thing stranger than being a young adult without any social media accounts, was being found out as an immortal being who drank human blood.

Better to let people think he was weird.

Human Alex blushed, and Alex suddenly realised what he was asking.

“Can I have your number?” Alex held out his phone, not quite sure how to actually use it yet, despite knowing its inner workings.

Human Alex rushed to add his phone number, and Alex watched in fascination, memorising it for the future. The smartphone was yet another thing that he was going to have to figure out how to use, and fast.

It seemed like everything his fellow students did involved their smartphone.

But he wasn’t complaining, especially since Jorge demanded that he carry the thing at all times, and now it meant that he could send messages to his crush.

Human Alex blushed as he handed Alex back his phone, and he could feel that he was being stared at, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Call me, so I have your number.”

Alex hit the call button, watching as human Alex’s phone lit up, buzzing in the palm of his hand. He rushed to store Alex’s number, but he hit the ‘accept’ icon by mistake.

“Hello?” Alex stuck his tongue out as he answered his phone, making human Alex snort in laugher, and Alex would have done anything to see human Alex smile again.

“You’re such a dork.”

Alex was still grinning when he stumbled into class late, and even the strange looks from his classmates couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

*

Jorge was waiting for him when he got in, his skin pale, and the bags under his eyes showed that he’d spent all day waiting up for him rather than sleeping.

“How was your day?” Jorge wrapped him up in his arms, squeezing him tight as Alex smiled, his muscles aching from grinning so much.

“What’s a dork?”

Jorge snorted in laughter, and Alex looked at him in confusion.

“It’s…” Jorge frowned, and Alex’s smile faded.

“Please tell me it’s not an insult.” Alex pouted, and Jorge led him to the kitchen, heading for the fridge as Alex felt his fangs sharpen.

The smell of blood cleared Alex’s mind, and for the first time since he’d left human Alex, he felt calm.

They drank in silence, both slumped over the table as the day caught up with them, and Alex licked his lips clean before looking over at Jorge.

“Am I a dork?”

Jorge snorted in laughter, and Alex pouted, poking himself in the lip with his fangs.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“All it means is that you’re weird... but in a fun way.”

Alex opened his mouth to say, I’m not weird, but he compressed his lips together when he realised that the humans saw him as strange.

“People at work call me a dork all the time.” Jorge pulled a funny face, making them both laugh as Alex relaxed in his seat.

“So, it’s a good thing?”

“Yeah, people wouldn’t say it if they didn’t like you.”

Alex grinned, and Jorge reached out to hold his hand.

“I want to hear all about your first day at university.”

***

Uni was easy after that, the classes were a breeze, and he got to see human Alex every day. Even at the weekends, the library was open, and they studied together.

The place was deserted, there wasn’t even any library staff, just an electronic gate that they had to swipe their student pass to open.

Even the checking out of books was all computerised. It was efficient, but it made Alex feel so old.

Human Alex gave him a nudge, rousing him from his thoughts, and Alex yawned.

“Late night?”

Alex smiled, laughing in his head at the fact that every night was a late night for him.

No matter how much he tried to sleep at night, his vampire body was having none of it, and he’d ended up power napping in the evenings before sunset.

A strange phrase popped into his mind, something Jorge often said to his colleagues when they commented on him being more awake on night shifts than day shifts.

“I’m a night owl.”

“Me too.” Human Alex blushed, his heart rate quickening as he looked down at his textbook. “I blame Marc and Tito, they’re always playing video games until the sun comes up.”

Alex wasn’t sure what the correct answer was. He vaguely knew what video games were, but he’d never played one. One of his classmates had showed him a video of someone else playing a video game, which had seemed strange to Alex at the time, but that was true of most things that humans did.

The silence was punctuated by a window slamming shut, the painfully bright blue sky now a more tolerable grey, and from the chill in the air, rain wasn’t far away.

“We should play together sometime.”

“I’m not sure Jorge would be happy if I wasn’t home at night.”

Human Alex snorted in laughter, nudging him, and Alex laughed along with him even though he had no idea what was so funny.

“I meant online.”

“I’d like that.” Alex smiled, but he could feel his mind filling with a thousand questions. He was going to have to do a lot of research and fast, as well as begging Jorge to allow him to have video games.

“I won’t go easy on you.”

Alex’s mind filled with x-rated fantasies, and ever since he’d met human Alex, he was grateful that he couldn’t blush.

***

Alex liked video games, and it gave him an excuse to be up late talking to human Alex, even if they were both in their separate homes.

And then Jorge started playing video games when he got in from a stressful shift.

Jorge was a natural at it, and when he wasn’t working, he joined in their games, as did Marc and Tito.

It was fun, but Alex missed his alone time with human Alex, desperate for every second that they got together.

He wanted to ask human Alex if it could be just the two of them, but he couldn’t quite find the words to tell him that he had a crush on him.

From what he’d seen of the other students, no-one actually talked about their feelings with their crush. There was a lot of awkward flirting, and most of the couples on his course had ended up together due to alcohol, which was no use to him since he couldn’t get drunk.

Not that he’d ever tried drinking, but he’d seen Jorge and the other vampires that they used to live with drinking for hours without being affected by it.

“Are you okay?” Jorge sat his controller down, and Alex blinked, his car still at the start line as the others raced around the track.

“Yeah, just thinking.”

“About Alex?” Jorge’s voice was soft, and Alex knew that he was worried.

“I really like him.”

“He seems to really like you too.” Jorge wrapped his arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer until his face was buried against his chest, making him feel small and vulnerable.

“I want to ask him out on a date, but what if he says no?” Alex’s words were muffled, tears welling up in his eyes as he left bloody smudges on Jorge’s hoodie.

“Then he says no, and it’ll hurt, but you can’t make people like you.”

“I know.”

Alex inhaled, even though he no longer needed to breathe, sometimes it made him feel more human.

“Why are feelings so complicated?”

“They just are.”

Jorge stroked his back until he fell asleep, and Alex was grateful that he had his big brother looking out for him.

***

It wasn’t long before the end of term came round, and Alex didn’t like the idea of nearly four weeks without seeing human Alex.

Even though it was tiring now that the sun set before he even got home from uni, he couldn’t bear the thought of staying away from human Alex, even for a weekend.

The words, I’ll miss you, danced on his tongue, but he couldn’t get them out, and it was nearly time to say goodbye.

Forcing a smile on to his face, Alex walked human Alex to his bus stop, and they both fidgeted on the spot as they waited for the bus to arrive. Alex pulled his scarf up around his mouth to mask the fact that his breath didn’t hang in the air the way human Alex’s did.

The bus was due any minute, but Alex still couldn’t find the words, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to spend the holidays alone.

And then human Alex spoke, blurting out the words as though they were burning his tongue.

“Would you like to hang out over the holidays?”

“At the library?”

Human Alex smiled, his cheeks glowing red as he looked down at his trainers.

“Like, a movie, or pizza?”

“Just the two of us?” Alex reached out for human Alex’s hand, even with them both wearing gloves he could feel his heart pounding.

“Yeah… like a date.”

Alex grinned, and it took all of his self-control for him not to jump up and down with joy.

“I’d like that.”


	4. Date

Alex fought with a tie, unable to get it to resemble anything that he’d seen on another human, and he flopped down face first on his bed in defeat, wondering why human dating rituals seemed to be so complicated.

“Are you ready for your date?”

Alex looked up from his mop of wild curls, and Jorge wandered in, sitting down next to him on the bed as Alex rested his head on his lap.

“What do young people wear when they want to impress?”

“Not ties.” Jorge slung the evil tie across the room, and Alex smiled, glad that he had Jorge to look out for him.

Jorge wasted no time in going through Alex’s wardrobe, eyeing up his clothes, some of which hadn’t been worn in decades, and Alex was sure that wearing anything that retro would be suspicious.

“Where are you going?” Jorge held up a pair of flared jeans, shaking his head before hanging them up neatly.

“We’re going to watch a movie, and eat pizza.” It sounded so easy, and yet Alex had never been to a cinema, or eaten pizza.

“At the same time?” Jorge snorted in laughter, but Alex couldn’t manage even a small smile.

“I don’t know.” Alex could feel his nerves growing, dating seemed so complicated, and he was worried that he’d do something wrong.

Jorge sat down next to him, handing him a t-shirt for a band that Alex vaguely remembered hanging out with once some time in the eighties, and a hoodie that was both comfy and not falling apart at the seams like all of his other ones.

Rushing to get changed, he shook his curls so that they were at least out of his eyes, and he stood in front of the mirror, admiring his reflection before turning to face Jorge.

“How do I look?”

Jorge gave him a double thumbs up, his dorkiest grin shining out, and Alex couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re going to have a great time, and I’ll be home all night if you want picked up.”

“Thank you.”

“Have fun.”

Jorge winked at him as he walked out, and Alex couldn’t stop his mind racing away with itself, even though he would be happy with just a kiss from human Alex.

*

The walk gave Alex a chance to calm his nerves, but the second that he saw human Alex standing outside the cinema they came rushing back with a vengeance.

Human Alex’s smile made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, a rush of lust swirling through his mind as he tried to say hello and somehow stumbled over his words.

“Hey-lo.”

Human Alex snorted in laughter, mumbling his apologies when he saw the frown on Alex’s face.

“It’s good to see you again.” Human Alex stared at his feet, and Alex could sense his heart rate quickening.

“This is definitely more fun than the library.”

Human Alex nodded, still unable to look him in the eye, hiding his blushing cheeks.

“What film would you like to see?”

Alex scanned over the film titles, and there was only one that he recognised, a classic film that he’d seen on tv years ago.

“Evil Dead?”

The smile human Alex gave him felt good, and he hurried to buy two tickets from the girl at the counter who was every bit as pale as him. Her eyes appeared human though, full of life rather than soulless pools of darkness, and he had to double-check that she didn’t have any other signs that she could be a vampire.

He was staring so much that as they walked to the screen, human Alex leant in so that he could whisper.

“The ticket girl was cute.”

Alex nodded, he’d much rather human Alex think that he was eyeing up someone on their date than have him know the truth.

He relaxed a little as they wandered into the dark cinema screen, and human Alex headed straight for the big seats at the back, more than big enough for two skinny guys like them.

They sat close together, the few millimetres feeling like a vast expanse as he tried to work out how he could have more contact with human Alex without seeming strange.

He’d seen other people holding hands, and he wanted to luxuriate in the feeling of human Alex’s warm skin pressed against him, but his arm seemed frozen to his side.

The dim lights of the cinema screen faded out, the ads playing quietly in the background as Alex tried to think of something to say, but the screen was so quiet that he couldn’t get his mouth to work. And then human Alex fidgeted in his seat, getting comfy so that he could rest his head against the back of the seat.

Seeing his chance, Alex rested his arm next to human Alex’s, the warmth of his skin radiating out, his pulse throbbing with every beat of his heart, and Alex wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold his hand.

But he couldn’t work up the courage.

The trailers made way to the film, but Alex couldn’t focus on it, his senses in overdrive at the fact that his crush was sitting next to him, and all he had to do was make a move.

As though he could read his mind, human Alex reached out to take his hand, intertwining their fingers as though they were meant to fit together.

The warmth filled his heart, and it would have skipped a beat, if it still beat.

Alex sat through the entire film with a grin on his face that he was sure could only be described as dorky, and when the lights came up, he could see that human Alex looked every bit as happy.

*

They were still grinning when they got food, and Alex was still holding his hand, even if it made eating awkward, but they couldn’t bear to let go of each other.

Pizza was tasty, despite the fact that he had to keep blowing his nose because of the garlic, but he loved the taste. The warm bread and tasty herbs reminded him of a dish that his mother used to make, and he was humbled into silence at the miracle of immortality that his brother had given him.

He wasn’t meant to be here, and yet, against all odds, he was here on a date, in a future that he could never have imagined for himself when he was a mere mortal.

Human Alex waved his hand in front of his eyes, and Alex realised he was frozen mid-bite, savouring every flavour that danced on his tongue.

“Sorry.” Alex rushed to finish chewing, covering his mouth as human Alex gave him the most beautiful smile.

“Are you enjoying the pizza?”

“Yes, it tastes amazing.”

“Let me guess, Jorge doesn’t let you eat unhealthy food?”

Alex laughed, glad for an excuse as to why he was seemingly overwhelmed by a pizza, and from the way that human Alex gave him a knowing look, he thought they were in the same boat.

“Your brothers seem like they’re both healthy types.”

“Yeah, they’re at the gym more often than they’re home.”

Alex remembered them both talking about how much they could lift, and how far they could run, when he had visited human Alex in the hospital. It had been pretty much all that they talked about, and Alex had said that he wasn’t one for exercise just so that they wouldn’t ask him about it, but the truth was, he didn’t need to exercise, and even if he did, he would still be as lanky as when he died for the rest of eternity.

They chatted about their big brothers, and Alex dodged the question about their parents, but human Alex did the same. In all the time that he’d known human Alex, he’d never heard him talk about them, and he knew that was strange for a human, but he didn’t want to pry.

In the end, they talked about films, one of the few human things that Alex had had access to over the years, a strange glimpse of humanity and all their quirks.

Human Alex glanced at his watch, and his eyes went wide, his heart pounding as Alex tried to work out what was wrong.

“Fuck, I’ve got to go before I miss my last bus.”

Alex stuffed the last slice of pizza into his mouth whole, and human Alex laughed as he rushed to pull on his coat, grabbing his hand as they both rushed out of the restaurant.

The cool air was like a slap to the face, and human Alex struggled to catch his breath with the icy air filling his lungs.

The bus stop wasn’t far, and for a selfish moment, Alex didn’t want human Alex to make his bus, just so that he could have a little more time with him.

A flash of headlights had them both fidgeting, aware that their time was running out, and Alex didn’t want to let go of human Alex’s hands.

“I had a really nice night.”

“Me too.” Alex gave his hand a quick squeeze, hoping that it conveyed all his feelings better than words could.

Human Alex held his breath, his lip trembling as he leant in closer, and Alex let his eyes fall shut, delighting in the feeling of intimacy that left him desperate for more.

In all of his years on this earth, Alex had never felt anything so satisfying, even the metallic tang of blood paled in comparison to the feeling of warm lips pressed against his own, lust taking over as he deepened the kiss.

The hiss of brakes as the bus stopped made Alex wish that he could slow time, savour this moment forever, but it wasn’t to be.

“Text me when you get home.”

“Will do.”

“Night.”

“Night.”

The bus whisked human Alex away, and Alex waved until he disappeared round the corner, his smile still shining out.

He walked home with a grin on his face, and his phone buzzed as he was about to start walking home.

_I had a great time, and I can’t wait to do this again xxx_

***

Jorge grabbed his coffee, a coconut latte that eased away the tired ache of being active while the sun was still shining, when he saw a familiar face.

“Hi, Marc, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’m surprised you remember.” Marc smiled, his warm brown eyes sparkling with lust, and Jorge could sense his heart rate quickening. “You must see so many people every day.”

Jorge shrugged, he’d had a long time to sharpen his memory, spent decades looking over his shoulder, wary that someone might figure out what he was.

Someone yelled Marc’s name, and he rushed to grab his coffee, a quadruple shot caramel latte that seemed like it would be way too much caffeine and sugar for someone as hyperactive as Marc.

“Do you have time to sit?” Marc gestured to a free table, tucked away in the corner of the cafe, and thankfully out of the bright sunlight that was streaming through the large glass window front that seemed to be all the rage for coffee shops these days.

“Sure, I worked the early shift today.”

“Me too.” Marc smiled, wiggling until he was comfy in his seat, before taking a big swig of his drink.

“Good?”

“Perfect.” Marc licked the foam from his lips, and Jorge couldn’t keep his eyes off Marc’s dexterous tongue.

“How’s your baby brother doing?” Jorge almost didn’t want to bring it up, and he flinched when he saw the flicker of sadness that crossed Marc’s face.

Jorge knew that pain, feeling helpless while his baby brother suffered, and now that Alex was out in the human world, he constantly worried that the humans would find out what he was, and worse still, that he would be unable to keep Alex from getting hurt.

But he couldn’t be with Alex all the time, he had to give him his freedom, no matter how scary it was to him.

“He’s doing much better, and he seems to be enjoying university this year.”

“I don’t think I ever thanked you for looking after Alex.”

“It’s my job.”

“And thank you for making your baby brother visit, Alex could do with more people his own age around him.”

“I didn’t have to make Alex visit, he’s not really made many friends since we moved here.”

“I thought I detected a hint of Spanish.”

Jorge nodded, sipping his drink before licking the foam away, and Marc’s gaze lingered on his mouth, a faint blush crossing his golden cheeks as he looked down at the table.

“How did you end up in London?”

“You know how it is, the financial recession hit, and I had to provide for Alex, so...”

Marc nodded, it had been tough times in Spain, and those who could get out did.

“Same, I’m still sending money back to my parents, even though they’re not happy at me for taking Alex away from them.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Marc tapped his fingers on the table, gazing off into the distance, and Jorge was just about to say ‘you don’t have to talk about it’ when Marc spoke.

“Alex chose to come, it’s not like I dragged him, but his asthma seems to have got worse here.”

“London’s not famous for its clean air.”

“He was thinking of going home after he was in hospital, but he seems to be doing well at uni now, so he wants to finish his final year.”

“I understand that.”

“Do you ever miss home?”

“My home is wherever Alex is.” Jorge knew that he was being cryptic, but there was no way he could explain why he couldn’t return home, not while people still told stories of him and his family.

“I’ve got to go, but it was lovely to see you again.” Marc was already half way out of his seat, his hips wiggling as though he was unable to be still for even a second.

“It was nice to see you too.”

“We should do this again sometime.”

“Sure.” Jorge rushed to get his phone out of his pocket, handing it to Marc so that he could put his number in.

He gave it a quick ring, and Marc smiled when he saw his phone light up.

“Text me.”

“I will.” Marc winked at him as he left, grinning from ear to ear as he disappeared out the door, leaving Jorge speechless for the first time in nearly a century.

He was still smiling even after work called and asked him to come back in and cover.

***

Alex wondered how one of the best days of his life, and one of the worst, could happen all in the same week.

People picking on him for being weird was something he’d got used to at uni, and he’d been ready to walk away, when they threatened his boyfriend.

That was when he saw red.

His sensible brain had kicked in a second later, and he’d taken a beating so that he didn’t accidentally end up killing someone, but it hadn’t felt good.

That night, Alex felt silly as Jorge fussed over him, putting on a show of dressing his wound, even though they both knew that it would be healed the second that the sun set that night.

They had to make sure that everything looked human, and from the way that human Alex and his brothers were watching him with concern, he was clearly putting on a convincing show.

Jorge made everyone coffee, and he ordered take away pizza, since it was clear that none of their guests intended on going home.

Human Alex was clinging to his hand, rubbing them to try and warm them up, and Alex just liked the feeling of his warm skin against his own, his heartbeat vibrating through him, and he almost felt human again.

“What happened?” Jorge ran his fingers through his wild curls, and Alex felt his love radiating out, an unspoken promise that he would protect him, no matter what.

“It was nothing.” Alex hung his head, but he knew that Jorge wouldn’t stop asking until he told him everything.

“They were teasing him about wearing sunglasses in January.” Human Alex gave his hand a squeeze, and Alex absently stroked the side of it with his thumb.

“He gets migraines from the light,” Jorge said without missing a beat, and Alex wished that he’d thought of that earlier.

There were so many human things that he didn’t know about, but he’d had no practice in blending in with the humans, always kept away from their world for fear that the humans would find out who he was.

“Alex used to be the same, but then he got contact lenses with a UV filter.” Marc stepped closer, reaching out to comfort his brother with his touch, resting his hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll have to look into them.” Jorge smiled, and he gave Alex a glance that held so much pain, as though he’d failed him by letting him go out in sunglasses.

Alex opened his mouth to speak, but then the doorbell rang, and he could sense the hunger from the humans in the room.

“Pizza’s here.” Jorge rushed to answer the door, and Alex grabbed plates and glasses, herding everyone in the direction of the living room so that they could eat and play video games.

*

No-one said a word about how close him and human Alex were, although he was pretty sure that everyone in the room knew that they went on a date.

Alex took any chance that he could to be close to human Alex, and he was glad when his small gestures were reciprocated, both of them grinning like the dorks in love that they were.

Not that Alex had been brave enough to tell human Alex how he felt, but he knew deep down that he was hopelessly in love.

“Alex?”

“Yes?” They both spoke at the same time, much to the confusion of Tito, and he smiled before speaking again.

“Having two Alexes is really confusing.”

“We should number them,” Marc said, before snorting in laughter when his brother looked offended.

“What’s your surname?” Tito asked, without looking up from the game.

Alex nearly said Lorenzo without thinking, but it had been years since they’d used that surname, and although it felt like abandoning their family when they had taken a new name, it was for the best that no-one could make the connection to their mortal names.

“Rins, but people used to call me Rinsy.”

Jorge smiled, clearly proud of him, and for a second Alex felt like he was back in Barcelona, surrounded by family.

There was no hiding, no having to pretend they were human, just six vampires hanging out and living a life of luxury.

But times had changed, and now he had a new family.


	5. Control

Jorge pushed his sunglasses up on his nose, scanning the crowded street for the coffee shop where he was meeting Marc, excited to see him again.

Marc was sitting outside in the sun, basking in its golden rays, and he looked like a Greek god that had decided to nip down to earth for a date with a mortal.

Not that Jorge was mortal.

Marc stood up so that he could give Jorge a hug, and Jorge luxuriated in the feeling of his warm skin pressed against him, his scent intoxicating.

“Coconut latte, right?” Marc’s eyes sparkled with mischief, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth, and Jorge couldn’t help but stare.

“Good memory.” Jorge sat down, rushing to take a sip so that he could show Marc how grateful he was, and he didn’t have to fake his smile.

“Still warm enough?”

“It’s perfect, I’ve had the worst shift.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Nope.” Jorge took another sip of his coffee, grinning as Marc did the same. “I’ve got the next thirty-six hours free, and the last thing I want to think about is work.”

“To not talking about work.” Marc held his coffee cup up for a toast, and Jorge clinked their cups together, the foam splashing over the edge as they both chuckled.

“To a relaxing afternoon.”

*

Marc’s idea of relaxing was a tapas bar and beers, where he could lounge in the sun and eat to his heart’s content.

“Do you ever miss home?” Marc swigged at his beer, the label peeling off where he’d picked at it, seemingly unable to sit still for even a second.

“Sometimes.” Jorge smiled nervously as he fidgeted with the silver cross hanging around his neck, resisting the urge to put it in his mouth, a habit that he’d never fully managed to break, even after all these years.

“It’s always silly little things that make me feel homesick.”

Jorge nodded, he understood that feeling all too well, longing for something that he couldn’t have, only there was no way for Jorge to ever get home again. That time was long gone, replaced by roads and concrete buildings, the clothes now thin and light, and beautifully soft compared to the rough sacks that used to pass for robes when he was a boy.

“Having Alex with me makes it easier.” Jorge knew it was a cliché, but his home was where his heart was, and Alex was all that he cared about in this world.

The silence was deafening, both of them lost in their thoughts, the music sounding distant as Jorge reached out to hold Marc’s hand, absently stroking the side of it with his thumb.

Marc downed the last of his beer, setting the bottle down carefully on the warped wooden table, and Jorge was glad to have a reason to break the silence.

“Another?”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Marc grinned, his smile full of mischief, and Jorge simply shook his head.

“No.”

“Joke’s on you, I’m a lightweight.” Marc tried to wink at him, the gesture exaggerated as though it wasn’t something he usually did, and Jorge snorted in laughter, covering his mouth by way of apology.

Jorge slinked to the bar, keeping one eye on Marc at all times, and there was something fascinating about watching him when he thought he wasn’t being watched.

Marc seemed almost upset when he was left alone, as though he was unused to it, and he lit up when a pretty woman came over to say hi.

Jorge knew he shouldn’t listen in, but his vampire hearing had to be useful for something, and he heard Marc telling the woman that he was on a date, which made Jorge smile. Ever since he’d met Marc, he felt strangely possessive of him, and he rushed back to him when the woman sat down next to him at the table.

Jorge was only a couple of steps away from the table when she asked Marc where the lucky woman was, and Marc simply pointed at Jorge with a grin on his face.

“That’s my date.”

Watching the woman’s mouth hang open in shock made it all worthwhile, and she muttered something about how he was a lucky guy before shuffling back to her friends.

Jorge handed Marc his beer as he sat down next to him, making sure that no-one had any confusion as to whether they were on a date or not, and Marc squinted at the label before frowning.

“It’s not got any alcohol.”

Marc pointed at the 0,0 on the label, even though the different colour label was a dead giveaway that it wasn’t the same thing he was drinking before.

Jorge leant in to whisper, giving him the perfect view of the veins pulsing in Marc’s neck, and he had to run his tongue over his teeth to check that his fangs weren’t poking out.

“I want you sober so you can remember the best sex of your life.” Jorge winked at him, and for the first time since he’d met Marc, he saw him really blush, a deep red that was in danger of burning his cheeks.

Marc’s grin grew, his eyes black with lust as he let out a groan that could only be described as sexual, and Jorge knew that it would pale in comparison to the sounds that Marc would make in bed.

“Want to get out of here?”

“More than anything else in the world.” Marc downed his beer, and Jorge did the same, Marc rushing to pull on his jacket, and it took him three attempts to get his arm in the sleeve.

Jorge could feel Marc’s heart pounding, the lust coursing through his veins, and Jorge felt a rush that he hadn’t felt in a while.

Anticipation.

He hadn’t wanted something this badly in nearly thirty years, and he’d missed the excitement.

*

Marc held his hand tight the entire way back to his flat, and Jorge was glad that they had somewhere quiet to go back to, since Alex would be home from uni by now.

It took Marc two attempts to get his keys in the lock, and Jorge kissing the side of his neck, nipping at his ears, definitely wasn’t helping him.

They stumbled through the door as a tangle of limbs, Jorge pushing Marc against the wall as he kissed him passionately, both of them breathless as they rushed to slip off their shoes, and that was when they heard something unexpected.

“Marc?”

Knowing his brother was home had the same effect as dumping a bucket of cold water over them.

“Fuck,” Marc whispered, and Jorge nearly laughed out loud.

Team Alex, as they’d taken to calling themselves, had spent every day for the last two weeks at Jorge’s flat, but today of all days had to be the time that they decided to come to Marc’s place.

Jorge glanced at Marc, both of them clearly thinking the same thing as they tried to hide their disappointment.

Marc glanced at his hard cock that was straining against his skinny jeans, and he pulled his hoodie down to cover it, blushing as his baby brother rushed out of the living room.

“I’m glad you’re here, Tito’s kicking my arse and I need someone who’s easy to beat.” Alex, Marc’s Alex, stuck his tongue out, and Marc laughed, diffusing the awkward tension.

“You’re on, baby bro.” Marc bounced towards the sound of Tito cheering, and Jorge followed, glad that he had complete control over his body, willing his erection away the second that he realised they weren’t alone, although the lust still remained, his already heightened senses tuned in to Marc.

Every flirtatious glance, every brush of his fingers, even the way his heart raced when Jorge smiled at him, all fed the flames of Jorge’s lust.

He sat down next to Marc, their bodies touching, almost subconsciously, as though they were drawn to each other, both desperate to feel skin against skin, even if Marc did shiver every time that Jorge’s icy fingers brushed against him.

Alex finished his race, Tito narrowly taking the victory, and Alex handed the controller over to human Alex before cuddling in against Jorge, nuzzling him for attention until he stroked his wild curls out of his eyes.

“I didn’t know you were coming here.” Jorge felt Alex tense, and he didn’t relax until he held him, cuddling him close.

“Yeah, Tito picked us up from uni.” Alex buried his head against his shoulder, and Jorge felt bad, he hadn’t meant for it to sound like an accusation, but clearly that was what Alex had heard.

“Thanks, Tito, I really appreciate it.” Jorge was glad that he got a lot of practice at sounding sincere even when he was cursing internally.

Tito mumbled something that sounded like ‘no bother’ but even with his superior hearing he couldn’t quite make out the words.

Alex snuggled in closer, clearly tired from being awake during the sunlight hours, especially on such a bright clear day.

“How was uni?”

“Good.” Alex tensed, and Jorge knew that there was something he wasn’t telling him.

Jorge didn’t pry, but he couldn’t stop big brother mode kicking in, still worrying about him after the incident with the other students. Not that Alex would have any problem defending himself in a fight, but covering up dead bodies was much harder now, as was fleeing the country and starting a new life somewhere else.

Human Alex gave Alex a funny look, and he knew that they were going to have to talk later, but now wasn’t the time, clearly Alex just needed time to relax, and Jorge wanted him to have that.

He put on his best smile, and he comforted his baby brother until he seemed happy again, playing video games with his boyfriend and his brothers.

None of the humans noticed that Alex was distracted, clearly preoccupied with the events of the day.

*

Alex was so tired that Jorge had to carry him up the stairs to their flat, and once he was fed, he felt a lot better.

But he knew that he wasn’t going to get out of it that easily.

“So, what happened today?” Jorge’s soft calming voice wasn’t going to fool him that easily, and he couldn’t bear to talk about it.

“Alex wasn’t feeling well and Tito came to get us.”

“Really?”

Alex shook his head, he knew that he couldn’t lie to Jorge, but he didn’t want to worry him.

“Some guys were hassling us because we were holding hands in the cafeteria.” Alex looked down at his hands, hoping that if he evaded Jorge’s gaze he wouldn’t have to answer any more questions.

He had no such luck.

“Did you report them?”

“No-one cares.” Alex stared at the table, but he didn’t need to see Jorge to feel the rage. Jorge had sworn to protect him, but he could never have imagined this future for him.

He should never have gone near humans in the first place, but now that he’d met human Alex, he couldn’t bear to be separated from him.

Jorge clenched his fist, but when he saw Alex looking he stretched it out, showing him that he was in control.

“I thought about scaring them, but it’s not worth the risk.”

“If humans find out what we are...” Jorge trailed off, and Alex didn’t need to be reminded of the risks again.

“I just don’t understand why they care who I date.”

“Some things never change.” Jorge shook his head, and Alex remembered back to when he was a mere mortal, when the words gay, bi and trans didn’t even exist, and people like him were persecuted for being possessed by evil spirits.

Jorge stroked his wild curls out of his eyes, looking at him with such intensity that Alex felt humbled already.

“I’ll talk to the university.”

“Don’t bother, they’re as bad as the students.”

“I have killed for you before, and I would do it again.” Jorge’s eyes were unblinking, and Alex knew that he would do the same for Jorge.

“As tempting as the idea of them all suffering a horrible death is, it might be a bit of an overreaction.” Alex snorted in laughter, and Jorge smiled for the first time since they’d got home.

“All I want for you is to be happy.”

“I am happy, I should have died many times over if it wasn’t for your gift of immortality.”

Alex cuddled in against Jorge, even though the moon was shining bright outside, all he wanted to do was stay comfy in Jorge’s arms.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

***

“Jorge’s working nights this week.” Alex bit at his lip, worrying that he’d misread the situation and he was being too forward. “I’ll have the place to myself.”

Human Alex blushed, his heart pounding as he nodded, and Alex felt his cock twitch in anticipation.

“I’m sure Marc would be fine with us ‘playing videogames’ without supervision.”

Alex could hear the shift in human Alex’s tone, and he knew that he wasn’t the only one thinking about sex.

In fact, it felt like it was all that he could think about lately.

He’d seen people have sex, many times, back when him and Jorge lived with other vampires, and no-one ever thought to shut the door, or move their activities to a bedroom rather than the kitchen table.

But he’d never had sex himself.

He’d died a virgin, and since his rebirth as a vampire, he’d never met anyone that wasn’t having sex with Jorge.

That made things strange.

“I’ll see you tonight?” Human Alex gave his hand a squeeze, bringing Alex back to the moment.

“Jorge’s shift starts at eight.”

“I’ll see you then.” Human Alex glanced around before leaning in for a chaste kiss, and Alex felt like his soul was on fire.

He watched him walk away, and he was so busy staring that he didn’t notice the time.

It was definitely a sight worth being late for class.

*

Alex paced around the flat from the second that Jorge left for work, to the second that human Alex knocked on his door.

He flung the door open with such force that he nearly hit himself in the face with it, making human Alex laugh as he stumbled in, and the door had barely shut behind him when his lips were on Alex’s, both of them greedy for affection.

Alex never thought that he could feel this way, desperate for the touch of warm lips against him own, human Alex seemingly happy with the explanation that poor circulation meant that he was always cold, especially his hands.

He gasped as Alex’s ice cold fingers teased with the elastic of his boxers, neither of them quite brave enough to take things further than that during their make out sessions, but now it felt like he would burst if he didn’t get to feel human Alex’s warm throbbing cock inside him.

Stumbling towards the living room, human Alex pounced on him the second that they were close to the sofa, landing as a heap of lanky limbs giggling as they both got comfy, and Alex felt high from the lust.

The warmth of human Alex pressed up against him satisfied a primal urge, and he could feel the beat of his heart vibrating through his body.

Human Alex started to strip off his clothes with such speed it was as though they were burning his skin, and Alex did the same, both of them giggling as they fumbled their way out of their jeans.

Feeling so much of human Alex’s warm soft skin pressed against his own made it all real, and Alex leant in for a kiss, his fingers teasing at the elastic of his boxers.

Trembling, Alex kissed his way down the side of human Alex’s neck, his cock hardening with every kiss, and Alex could feel his arousal growing.

And then his fangs started to show.

Human Alex couldn’t see, but Alex could feel his fangs getting sharper, poking his lips as he tried to compress them.

The red haze clouded his mind, and Alex did the only thing he could think of.

“No.” Alex pushed human Alex away, and the second he had enough space he made a dash for the bathroom, locking the door behind him as human Alex called out his name in confusion.

There was a thud as human Alex sat down on the floor outside the door, and Alex felt tears welling up in his eyes, his body trembling at the thought that he could hurt the human that he loved.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I want to, but… I’m scared that I’ll hurt you.”

“We can take things slow, and I promise that I would tell you if it’s painful.”

“I...” Alex let out a groan, a pitiful sound that had no translation, and he could feel the warmth of human Alex’s body through the flimsy bathroom door.

“How does a movie and pizza sound?”

“That sounds really good.” Alex let out a sob, and he rushed to wipe away his bloody tears, flushing away the evidence before slinking out of the bathroom.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise to me.” Human Alex kissed the end of his nose, making him smile, and Alex cuddled in against his chest.

The words ‘I love you’ danced on Alex’s tongue, but he couldn’t quite get his mouth to work, he wanted to wait until the moment was perfect to tell human Alex how he felt about him.

“What toppings do you want on your pizza?” Alex smiled, he knew what human Alex would say, but he just wanted to break the tension.

“Pineapple and mushrooms.”

“I’ll go order it.” Alex stood on his tip toes to give him a kiss, before shuffling back to the living room, his phone still in his jeans pocket where they were piled in a heap on the floor.

He felt a little more in control now that he was wearing more than just his boxers, and he made a point of not looking as human Alex shuffled into his jeans and hoodie.

They played video games until the pizza arrived, and then they cuddled up on the sofa watching a romantic movie, human Alex cuddling and comforting him the whole time, reassuring him with his presence, and Alex wished that he could stay in this moment forever.

Human Alex yawned, and Alex could tell that he was desperately trying to stay awake.

“Sweet dreams, my love.”

Human Alex let out a soft snore, and Alex kissed his forehead, cuddling in closer as he felt the sun rising outside, sleeping like the dead.

*

He woke up alone on the sofa, the sun low in the sky as he rushed around the flat, using all of his vampire senses to try and detect where human Alex went.

And then he heard the toilet flush.

“I should head home, before Marc and Tito send out a search party for me.”

Alex snorted in laughter, and he knew that he would have to wait for more time with human Alex.

Human Alex took his time getting dressed, and Alex kept talking, happy to take any time he could get with him.

“How did you end up in London?” Human Alex looked at him as he asked, and Alex hoped that the shock didn’t show on his face.

“Jorge got a job here, better money, less hours...”

_And no vampire hunters trying to burn down our house with us in it._

“He’s the only family I’ve got, and I didn’t want to stay without him.”

_It wasn’t safe for us to split up._

“How did you end up here?” Alex forced a smile on to his face, chasing the unhappy memories away.

“Marc came here to be an actor, but it didn’t work out, and we just stayed here.”

“It’s nice to be in the city.”

Human Alex nodded, his eyes gazing off into the distance, and Alex wondered what he’d given up to move here.

“Tito isn’t really my brother, y’know?”

“I kind of guessed.”

“But he’s like family to me.”

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in life, family is just another word for people that you’d die for.”

Alex compressed his lips, scared that he’d said something wrong, but human Alex nodded in agreement.

Family was the people that they loved unconditionally, that supported them through the darkest times, and that was worth protecting with their lives.

***

That night, Alex was still smiling from his time with human Alex, even though it hadn’t gone how he’d planned.

He was excited to tell Jorge all about it, but the second he stepped through the door, Alex could tell that something was worrying him.

“Jorge? What’s wrong?” Alex rushed in for a hug, hoping that they didn’t have to move again, that he wouldn’t have to give up this life that he’d created for himself.

“The hospital, they’ve moved me to another department.”

“You’re a good nurse, I’m sure your new department will be happy to have you.” Alex felt the tension leave his muscles, this was a human problem, and they could deal with that easily.

“Thank you, baby brother.” Jorge squeezed him tight, and Alex could tell that something was still worrying him.

“What are you not telling me?”

“I… I won’t have access to the blood.”

Jorge bit at his lip, cutting himself with the tip of his fang, and Alex slumped back against the wall, his mind dizzy with the implications.

“Fuck.”


	6. Hunger

“I can control my hunger.”

Jorge compressed his lips, and Alex knew that thanks to Jorge, he hadn’t felt hunger that gnawed at his soul in decades.

“Remember the last time you got hungry?”

“That was over sixty years ago.” Alex smiled, but Jorge didn’t look convinced.

“And what happened then…?”

*****

The war may have been over for the humans, but for two hungry vampires, the world was a cruel and unforgiving place.

They had outstayed their welcome in Sitges, too many people with mysterious ‘devil marks’.

Since they were the only outsiders, they were the obvious targets for those who wanted someone to blame for the evil happenings.

Fleeing in the night had been the obvious choice, but with no maps, and Alex only having the strength to travel during the hours of darkness, that meant that they had no idea when they would next find people to feed from.

Alex had never felt hunger like this, his body screaming out for blood.

They had walked for more than twelve nights, desperately seeking out a town or village, with only small rodents to sustain them.

But as they went deeper into the forest, even the rats disappeared, and Alex wondered if this was the end.

Jorge kept telling him that it would be okay, that they would find a village and feed.

That night, Jorge offered Alex his blood, even though it would weaken Jorge even further, but Alex was too hungry to refuse.

“I swear I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.” Jorge pulled up his sleeves to reveal dry and cracked skin, as though he’d been left out in the sun to burn.

Alex hesitated, but his fangs extended out of instinct, his entire body aching with the agony of hunger, and he knew that he had to feed.

“Thank you.” Alex sank his fangs into Jorge’s skin, wincing as he hissed in pain, but then Jorge was stroking his hair, reassuring him as he felt the pain ease.

It took every ounce of strength for Alex to stop drinking, and he licked Jorge’s wrist clean, the wounds wouldn’t heal until he fed, but at least he could keep it from getting infected.

“I’m sorry that I’m not stronger.” Alex felt the sting of tears against his raw eyes, and Jorge licked away the blood.

They couldn’t waste a drop until they found somewhere to feed.

“I would die for you.” Jorge held Alex close, covering him with blankets as the sun started to peek over the mountains, and they knew that they would have to wait until dusk before they would have the strength to move again.

*

Alex woke to the sound of voices, distant murmurings and the scent of alcohol wafting over.

He opened his eyes to see Jorge asleep in a nicely made bed, dead to the world even though the moon was high in the sky, and his face was covered in water as though someone had tried to make him drink.

“You’re awake.” The girl was so young, so pale, and Alex leapt at her before she could even scream, gulping down her blood as he felt his strength return.

Alex saw the fear in her eyes, and that was a sobering moment, he had to stop before he killed her.

He’d never killed anyone before, and he didn’t want her to be his first.

Her body went limp in his arms, her pulse growing weaker as he wrenched his fangs free, and although she would probably feel weak and feverish for days, she was still alive.

But he needed more blood, and fast.

Creeping down the stairs, his rescuers had a nice but modest house, and he could sense that there were many people close by.

The bar was too crowded for him to feed, but there were plenty of other warm bodies sleeping in the small town, and a cup or two of blood from a few of them would be more than enough to slake his thirst and restore him to full health.

He left Jorge sleeping, vowing to bring him back a body so that he could feed, even though it would mean death for his meal.

Alex hoped that there was someone old and frail in the village, so that he could feel less guilt over it.

Jorge would always be his priority over mortals. Always.

Time ceased to exist, his instincts guiding him from house to house, and it wasn’t until the yellow haze of the sun started chasing away the night sky that he realised he was still hungry.

He had time for one more meal, and he lurked behind a tree as the unsuspecting barman rolled out the empty barrels.

Alex glanced around, checking that he was alone before approaching the guy, and from the smile on his face, he had no idea what was coming.

“Hello, stranger, can I get you a drink?”

“Yes, you can.” Alex’s fangs were poking out as he smiled, and the barman yelped in fright as he stumbled backwards, backing into the barrel before tripping over his own feet.

He was easy prey, and Alex couldn’t resist one last easy drink before he fled town with Jorge.

Or that was what he thought.

The villagers had caught Alex while he drank the barman, the buzz of the alcohol adding to the rush of the blood, and by the time he’d noticed that he wasn’t alone, they had him surrounded.

He wished that the myths about vampires having super strength were true, but when it came to one vampire against six strong guys, he was no match for them. They had him tied up in a matter of minutes, covering him in silver crosses that did nothing, but he made sure to hiss and groan as though they were burning him, so that the villagers thought that the crosses were working.

The last thing that he wanted was for humans to know anything more about vampires than what the legends had already told them, most of which was either exaggerated, or just plain wrong.

Being caught wasn’t great, but he’d escape at the first chance he got, and then him and Jorge would flee the town for another place, somewhere far away from here, where what had happened would be little more than a rumour told to scare other people.

But he wasn’t going to get a chance to escape, the villagers were tying him to a wooden post, and from all the straw and kindling piled up around his feet, it was clear what they had planned.

They were going to burn him alive.

It was one of the few rumours about vampires that was true, although there weren’t many beings on earth that could survive being burnt until they were little more than ashes scattering in the wind.

The candle looked so small and innocent, but he knew once the flames spread, that would be the end for him.

He closed his eyes, but that didn’t stop the sound of flames roaring in his ears, the crackle of kindling worse than bones breaking, and the stench of smoke had him coughing and retching, even though he had no need to breathe, he couldn’t stop the putrid stench from filling his nose.

Flames licked at his feet, the warmth growing as his rough jute clothing withstood the flames, but it wouldn’t protect him forever.

The warmth was fine at first, like basking in the sun on a warm summer’s day, but then it was stifling, every inch of skin crackling with the flames, and he screamed until the pain seemed all consuming.

Cheering echoed around the small village square, the flames surrounding his whole body, the dry straw billowing smoke as it turned to ash, and Alex whimpered as his body trembled, bloody tears streaming down his cheeks as he hoped and prayed that Jorge had ended up somewhere far away from here.

The last thing that he heard before the flames engulfed him was Jorge’s voice telling him that everything was going to be okay, and he felt grateful for the life that he’d had, the borrowed time that he’d stolen, flaunting the laws of nature with his immortality.

And then water was dousing his raw flesh, cooling his temper, the steam rising from his charred body confusing the locals that were gathered around to watch the entertainment.

The ropes had already burned through, and the steam gave Alex a chance to run, but he had no idea which way was safety.

And then a hand grabbed his, the flesh cool and lifeless, and he knew that Jorge had come to rescue him.

He threw a sack over him, shielding him from the sun’s harsh rays as they ran off towards the forest, and Alex was so relieved that Jorge had been there for him.

Buried in the cool earth, Jorge returned with an unconscious body for him to feed on, no doubt one of the villagers, and Alex felt no regrets as he drained them of every last drop of blood.

He got a glimpse of the moon, lighting up the night with its silver glow, but he had to rest, give his body time to heal before he would be fit to travel.

Alex slept until the moon was full in the sky again, and he lurked between the trees, looking for Jorge, but what he found was a priest.

He was short yet muscled, and if it wasn’t for the tuft of grey hair, Alex would have assumed him to be a boy rather than a man.

Fear consumed him, his body still weak from the fire, and he stood frozen to the spot, glancing around as though he was expecting other humans to jump out and attack him.

“Don’t worry, my child, I am like you.”

“You’re… a vampire?”

Alex looked at the priest with suspicion, and then he noticed the way that the moonlight failed to reflect off his black eyes, the scent of blood lingering on him, with spots of blood on his white dog collar, and he tried to sense a heartbeat, but there was none to be heard.

“But… but you’re a priest?”

The priest chuckled, a surprisingly deep laugh for such a small guy, and it did little to reassure Alex.

“I was a priest… before I became a vampire, and it’s a useful way to hide in plain sight.”

Alex nodded, he’d never had to worry about blending in with the locals, he just let Jorge do all the talking.

“What were you doing in the village?” The priest motioned for Alex to come closer, holding out his hand for him to take.

The twigs crunched under his feet, and he felt something stirring in the forest, but he couldn’t sense any of the tell tale signs that a human was near. He would be able to smell them if they were close enough to hurt him.

“I was hungry.”

“Are you alone?” The priest looked him in the eyes, and Alex felt like it was trap, but he didn’t know why.

Jorge had always told him not to trust anyone.

“He’s with me.” Jorge stepped out from behind a tree, and Alex jumped away from the priest, scurrying back until he was nestled under Jorge’s arm.

The priest held his hands up as though he was surrendering, but he made no attempt to run away.

“If you have harmed my brother I will kill you.” Jorge’s voice was low and clear, and Alex knew that he meant every word.

He stared at the priest, both of them unblinking, and Alex could feel the tension vibrating in the air.

“I saved him from the humans that were trying to burn him at the stake.” The priest stepped closer, testing Jorge’s limits, both of them still staring into each other’s eyes. “You might want to keep a closer eye on your progeny.”

“Why would you help him?”

“If we don’t protect each other, who will? The humans?” The priest practically spat the word human, and Alex knew that it would be a cold day in hell before a human protected a vampire.

“I owe you my eternal gratitude for saving my brother.”

“Yes, thank you.” Alex couldn’t remember if he’d already thanked the priest, but he knew that he would be thanking him for the rest of his very long life.

“I vow to repay your kindness.” Jorge relaxed, but the priest was still tense, and Alex couldn’t quite figure out why. “We are happy to accompany you on your journey.”

“That is most kind of you.” The priest nodded, and Alex could see that he had been alone for a long time, desperately searching for somewhere to rest, rather than constantly running, always wondering if they would get enough food.

“How long have you been alone?” Jorge seemed to have real pain in his voice, and Alex knew that he’d suffered a similar fate before he was turned.

“Too long.”

The priest hung his head, and for the first time since they’d met, he looked vulnerable.

“Come, if we move fast, we can be in Barcelona by dawn.”

*

They walked all night, and Jorge shielded Alex from the early dawn rays with his filthy coat, protecting his already burnt and scarred body.

On the outskirts of the city was an abandoned building, a lone town house, clearly evacuated during the war.

“I’ll check it out, you stay here and watch for any humans.” The priest glanced at Alex, and Jorge nodded in agreement, holding Alex close. He was in no fit state to defend himself if people figured out what they were.

The priest returned a few minutes later, slinking out through a broken fence panel, before brushing off the thick dust that was covering him.

“The house is old, but secure, and it will serve as a suitable place for your progeny to recuperate.”

The priest helped Jorge get Alex into the house, and the bed was a luxury that Alex had been without for too long.

“I will go and find suitable food for your progeny.”

“His name is Alex.”

“Dani.” He put his hand out to shake, a strangely human gesture, given that a vampire didn’t need any concealed weapons to kill a man.

“Jorge.” There was a flicker of a smile on his face, and Alex could see that they were kindred spirits.

Jealousy flared up, but Alex knew that if it wasn’t for Dani, he wouldn’t be around to feel these emotions.

He wanted his brother to be happy, and he knew that no matter who else came into Jorge’s life, he would always be his baby brother.

They had sworn to protect each other for all eternity.

***

What was meant to be a temporary stopping place for him to recover became a home, a place for them to live without fear of human interference.

After that incident, Jorge never let Alex out of his sight again, making sure that he was safe while he provided for them.

It was never mentioned again, and yet Alex knew that Jorge was haunted by what could have been.

Alex accepted his fate, sure that it was a fitting punishment for nearly getting himself, and Jorge, killed. He also accepted the fact that Dani was now the main focus of his brother’s attention, both of them so madly in love, in a way that only a vampire relationship could be.

It was all consuming, possessive and volatile, and they both seemed to love every second of it, while Alex contented himself with studying, learning all about the humans, and history.

When tv became a common appliance, he delighted in the fact that he could actually see other people without having to leave the house, or put him and his fellow vampires in danger.

It was almost like having friends, but not quite, and he tried not to think about all the things that he was missing out on.

Not that Jorge and Dani ever made him feel left out, and he was always welcome to sleep with them, even if it was awkward sometimes, but it wasn’t the same as having someone to love him in the way that Dani loved Jorge. Even though he knew that he could probably ask Dani for sex and he’d oblige, it wasn’t the same as having someone who was all his, who hadn’t slept with Jorge first.

Not that he was competitive, but it had been a lifetime since he’d had something of his own.

Others came to live with them, vampires that Jorge and Dani found when they were out getting food, but they were always Jorge’s to play with.

Even as a mortal, he had made do with Jorge’s old clothes and blankets, he had done what his parents had told him to do, and he had never thought about what he would do with his life if he was free, truly free.

Society had no expectations of him. He could no longer have children, or get married, the future that his parents had planned for him even though it wasn’t the life that he had wanted for himself.

But even in death, he was expected to be a good little brother.

He was free from mortal obligations, and yet he was still a prisoner in his own life, destined to live as Jorge saw fit.

Alex lived a life of luxury, never wanting for anything, and yet he longed for something more.

A life of his own.


	7. Desire

Alex didn’t miss the worried glance that Jorge shot him before he left for work, and human Alex gave his hand a squeeze, calming him for a moment.

“I promise that I’ll be a perfect gentleman.” Human Alex held his hands up, his smile shining out as the door slammed shut.

_It’s not your behaviour that Jorge’s worried about._

“I...” Alex fidgeted with the cords of his hoodie, not sure what to say, but human Alex tilted his head up, letting him see his smile.

“It’s okay, I’m happy to take things slow.”

They’d been taking things slow for a few months now, and as Alex’s hunger grew, so did his lustful desires.

Raw meat, no matter how bloody, just didn’t cut it.

He couldn’t trust himself around human Alex, and yet he couldn’t bear to be apart from him.

“Pizza and video games?”

“You’re on.”

*

A meat feast pizza, combined with the raw  bloody steak that he’d been sneaking when human Alex thought that he was getting more cold drinks, had managed to  dull the ache of hunger, but it wouldn’t last long.

Lazy kisses turned  into heavy petting, his ice cold fingers teasing at the hem of human Alex’s boxers, and  he delighted in the way that human Alex shivered under his touch.

“I want you.” Human Alex growled, a noise that made hairs stand up on the back of Alex’s neck, and even with his superior vampire reactions, he was caught off guard by human Alex pouncing on him, kissing his way down his chest with his fiery lips.

His hands trembled as he tugged at the hem of Alex’s boxers, his hard cock straining to be free, and Alex covered his face with his hands as he was exposed, the nerves returning as he took deep breaths to control his fangs.

“Do you want this?” Human Alex looked up at him, his eyes black with lust, and Alex had never seen anything so arousing.

“Fuck yes.”

Human Alex smiled, and then he was licking and kissing at his cock, his lips like fire as Alex gasped and moaned, making sure that his chest heaved as though he was breathing heavily.

Alex had a lot of practice at pretending to be human, but he had no idea what real humans looked like when they were having sex, he’d only ever seen them in porn, and he knew that wasn’t anything like reality.

The warmth of human Alex’s mouth jolted him out of his thoughts, his body trembling as his toes curled, and he came without warning, his fangs poking at his lips as he shuddered and writhed.

“Fuck.”

Alex grabbed the cushion and covered his face with it, the pleasure still surging through his body, but he knew that he couldn’t let human Alex see his fangs.

Taking a deep breath, he mumbled his apologies into the cushion, hoping that human Alex would understand.

“Are you okay?” Human Alex sounded worried, and Alex ran his tongue over his teeth, checking that his fangs had retracted.

He blushed as he let the cushion fall to the floor, and human Alex’s smile made him feel less self-conscious.

“I love you.”

Alex froze, he’d never heard those words from anyone other than Jorge, but they sounded even better when they came from his lover’s lips, his big green eyes staring into his soul.

“I love you too.”

*

Jorge glanced down the corridor before stepping out, the anticipation making him shiver.

He could sense all the warm bodies surrounding him, but there was only one that he was interested in.

Knocking on the door, he sensed their heart rate quickening through the flimsy door, and he couldn’t help but smile when Marc opened the door, a mischievous grin on his face that sent his lustful mind into overdrive.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Worth the wait?”

Marc dragged his eyes over Jorge, even in an ordinary jeans and a t-shirt, he still looked good, his muscles rippling under the thin fabric.

“Definitely.” Marc dragged Jorge into the room, pulling him into a messy kiss as he rushed to slip off his shoes, and he scooped Marc up in his arms, hoping that his muscled frame would be enough to convince Marc that he was strong enough to carry him to the bed.

Thankfully the bed wasn’t far, although Jorge could have carried him back to Spain without getting tired, but that would definitely raise suspicions.

They tumbled into bed, Jorge landing on top of Marc as he groaned, and Jorge realised that he hadn’t slept with a human since he was one.

He rolled over, pulling Marc on top of him, and Marc took the opportunity to strip off his t-shirt, showing off his toned chest, a vast expanse of golden skin.

Vampires didn’t tan, and while some of them had naturally darker skin, very few had what looked like a year-round tan.

“You’re gorgeous.” Jorge reached out to trace the lines of Marc’s abs, delighting in the warmth of his skin, the blood rushing through his veins and making his heart pound as he brushed over his nipples.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” Marc grinned, tugging at the neck of Jorge’s t-shirt, and Jorge sat up, shuffling Marc off him so that he could stand up.

“You want a show?” Jorge winked at him, lifting up the hem of his t-shirt and giving Marc a glimpse of his equally toned body.

Marc rushed to wriggle out of his skin-tight jeans, and Jorge wondered why people today wore things like that when they were such a pain to get off. He lay back on the bed, lazily palming himself through his boxers, and Jorge could only stare at such a beautiful sight.

“You’re gorgeous.”

“You already said that.”

“I don’t want you to forget it.” Jorge stripped off his t-shirt as though he was a model in a diet coke ad, and he could hear Marc’s heart rate quickening as he flexed his muscles, showing off his body.

The smell of sex hung heavy in the air, and Marc’s rock hard cock was straining at the flimsy material of his boxers.

Jorge teased at the waistband of his jeans, slowly popping each button, and Marc was practically drooling by the time that he jumped out of his jeans, showing off his skills as Marc watched in fascination.

“I like a guy who’s flexible.”

“Then you’ll love me.” Jorge pinged the elastic of his boxers, not that they left anything to the imagination, and he could see the damp patch on Marc’s boxers.

Marc was holding his breath, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets as he waited for Jorge to reveal his hard cock, Jorge letting it spring free with a flourish.

The gasp that fell from Marc’s lips was a nice boost to the ego, and Jorge planned on savouring every second of their tryst.

“Like what you see?” Jorge gazed at Marc, lost in his soulful amber eyes, every inch of his skin desperate to feel Marc pressed up against him.

“I want you.”

Jorge didn’t need to be asked twice, and he crawled on to the bed as Marc rushed to fling his boxers away, lying back on the bed with his legs spread wide.

“Ride me.” Jorge lay out, his cock standing proud, and Marc rushed to straddle him, leaning in for a messy kiss as he leant off the bed, fumbling around in the drawer for a condom and lube.

Jorge knew what condoms were, but he’d never used one, and he was glad that Marc took the lead on that, rolling over his hard cock before slathering it with lube.

“You’re going to feel so good inside me.” Marc got into position, and Jorge held his hips tight, guiding him down on to his cock as Marc’s tight heat surrounded him, inching his way down until their bodies were joined.

Jorge was going to give Marc a minute to adjust, he felt Marc’s pulse quicken, and then Marc was rocking his hips, making them both groan as he slammed Jorge up against the headboard.

Marc’s cock was hard, but he kept angling his hips, clearly trying to hit that spot that would leaving him seeing stars, and Jorge sat up, changing the angle enough to leave Marc gasping.

Jorge could tell that it had been a while, Marc desperately clinging to him as he begged for more, and Jorge raked his nails down Marc’s back, making him growl as he rushed towards his climax.

Reaching down between them, Marc whimpered as Jorge wrapped his icy fingers around his rock hard cock, and it only took a couple of strokes to have Marc coming hard, his muscles clenched tight around him and pushing him over the edge.

It had been too long since he’d felt the rush of lust, and Jorge buried his head against Marc’s shoulder, hiding his fangs for a second while he got control of himself, and by the time Marc was limp in his arms, Jorge’s teeth looked human again.

Marc’s chest was heaving, and Jorge mimicked his movements, gasping for air that he didn’t need.

Jorge wished that they could stay joined, but Marc winced, and Jorge helped him off, both of them hissing with the loss as Marc lay out, his heart still pounding as the last waves of his climax rippled through his body.

He curled in next to Marc, draping his leg over his hip and delighting in the feel of skin against skin, Jorge kissing at his chest and shoulder as Marc caught his breath.

_You’re a good fuck for a human. Pity this is a one-time thing._

And then a random thought crossed his mind.

“Did you tell your brother about us?”

“No, you?” A flicker of confusion crossed Marc’s face, and Jorge couldn’t read him, unsure if he was disappointed or relieved.

“No.”

“Where does Alex think you are?”

“Work, my shifts are so unpredictable.”

“Ditto.” Marc paused, lines gathering on his forehead. “It’s not that I’m ashamed, I just don’t tell my brothers about every one night stand I have.”

“I understand, I don’t tell Alex about my conquests.” Jorge had always told Alex that humans were trouble, and he didn’t want him thinking that Jorge approved of his relationship with a human.

It was only setting Alex up for pain and disappointment, and yet he knew it was something Alex was going to have experience first hand so that he could learn from it.

“Are you going to stay?” Marc bit at his lip, and Jorge knew he should leave, but he couldn’t resist cuddling up with a sleepy Marc, his skin like fire and warming his heart.

Jorge placed a soft kiss on Marc’s forehead, he looked even more adorable as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“Of course.”

*

Alex was dozing as the sun came up, and he only dimly registered the front door opening, Jorge checking on him, and he opened his eyes just as Jorge was turning to leave.

“How was work?” Alex could smell the sex, and it took him a second to place the other scent – Marc.

“Tiring but rewarding.” Jorge managed to keep the smile off his face, he didn’t want to tell Alex about his encounter with Marc and make things strange between Alex and his brother.

He’d been looking after Alex for so long, that he’d forgotten what fun felt like.

Alex nodded, now wasn’t the time to challenge Jorge on his lie, it had been too long since Jorge had enjoyed that kind of company.

“How was your night with Alex?”

“Fun.” Alex paused, he knew that Jorge would be able to smell sex on him, and he wanted to tell Jorge about the fact that they’d said ‘I love you’ to each other, but he was worried that Jorge wouldn’t approve of him getting romantically involved with a human.

“Did you… control yourself?” Jorge raised an eyebrow, and Alex felt attacked.

“Yes, I would never hurt Alex.”

Jorge compressed his lips, and Alex knew that if they didn’t find a reliable source of blood soon, he wasn’t going to have a choice in it.

***

It had been two weeks since he’d seen human Alex, but there was no way that he could see him now, and at least they were texting every day.

Alex had told the university that he was too sick to attend, but it was clear from his weakened state that he was no longer human, and even a mere glimpse of sunlight would burn him.

Jorge had been feeding on elderly patients that were dying, but they were few and far between, most of them never got near a hospital before they passed, and funeral homes were out, what with all the chemicals that they put into the recently deceased.

Even picking up animals from rescue shelters was harder now, with most of them wanting to run checks and visit their home before they would give them even a cat.

Alex was going stir crazy in the flat, and Alex wrote a long letter to human Alex, telling him everything.

He was never going to send it, he just had to make peace with the fact that he was finally dying, destined to crumble away into dust.

There was a knock at the door, and Alex assumed it was Jorge, he’d been more forgetful lately.

Forcing himself out of bed, he stumbled towards the door, using the wall to keep himself upright, and after what felt like an eternity, he was fumbling with the door locks.

The door swung open, and Alex blinked as his mind registered who was standing there.

“Dani?”

“Long time no see.” Dani raised an eyebrow, clearly shocked by the state that Alex was in. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Alex stumbled backwards, and Dani rushed in, sweeping him off his feet as though he was a bag of feathers.

Dani lay Alex on the sofa, and he made sure he was comfy, well, as comfy as he could be when his body was literally falling apart, before going to lock the door.

“Is Jorge…?” A flicker of sadness crossed Dani’s face, and Alex knew that he was thinking the worst.

“He’s at work, he’s been feeding on patients.”

“Jorge’s a doctor?” Dani snorted in laughter, before shaking his head in disbelief.

“No, a nurse, easier to blend in, and easier to move.”

Dani smiled, and Alex knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Please don’t picture Jorge in one of those sexy nurses uniforms.” Alex laughed, but it quickly turned into a cough. Dani wiped away the blood from Alex’s lips, but he couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes.

There was a knock on the door, the knocks too loud and impatient to be Jorge.

Dani mumbled something like ‘stay there’ as though Alex was strong enough to get up from the sofa, and Dani grabbed a knife out of his pocket as he went to answer the door.

Alex couldn’t make out what they were saying, his super vampire hearing had faded to the point that he couldn’t even hear the tv without it being turned up to maximum.

The door closed, and Alex felt a cold shiver run down his spine, unsure of who he would see walking into the room.

But it was just Dani, holding a cardboard box filled with blood.

His sense of smell was the only one that wasn’t failing him.

“Is that human blood?”

Dani shook his head, and he rushed to open the box, handing Alex a bag of cold blood.

“It’s pigs blood, but it’s the best that I can get at such short notice.”

Alex didn’t care, he devoured the whole bag in seconds, the metallic taste filling his mouth and satisfying his most primal urges. His strength returned with every sip, and he tore the bag open so that he could lick up every last drop, Dani handing him bags of blood until he was full.

“How did you know?”

“A friend told me that Jorge was trying to find blood.”

“It’s so hard to find humans to feed on without them finding out what we are.”

“It’s a problem all over Europe, cameras are everywhere, and all it would take is one video to have the church trying to wipe us out again.”

“I take it you’re no longer a priest?”

“Not at the moment.” Dani’s smile was warm, and he had always treated Alex like a baby brother.

“It’s so good to see you again.” Alex reached out for a hug, but they were disturbed before he could wrap Dani up in his arms.

The sound of keys rattling in the door was clear and loud, and Alex gave Dani a worried look.

“It’s all going to be okay.” Dani rested his hand on Alex’s knee, giving it a little squeeze as he stood up to face the door.

Jorge’s eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open as he stared at Dani, and Alex couldn’t imagine how it felt for him to see Dani after all these decades apart.

Jorge rushed over to Alex, kneeling beside him as he ran his fingers over his face, checking that Alex was unharmed.

“I’m fine, Dani brought me blood.” Alex squirmed away from Jorge’s touch, and Dani passed him another bag of blood.

Jorge looked up at Dani, confusion written all over his face.

“What are you doing here?”

“This town needs a new coroner.”


	8. Lust

Alex woke up to find Jorge sleeping next to him, and he tried to shuffle out without waking him, but the second he moved, Jorge’s eyes flew open.

“I let Dani take my room.”

Alex nodded, he had assumed that Jorge and Dani would pick up their relationship where they left off, but clearly that wasn’t the case.

Jorge looked into his eyes, and Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“I know you and Alex are having sex.”

Alex froze, and Jorge stroked his hair, cuddling him into his chest as he comforted him.

“It was just a… blow job.” He whispered the words, unused to talking about sex, even with Jorge.

“Did you enjoy it?”

Alex mumbled something that sounded like yes, his face buried against Jorge’s shoulder to hide his embarrassment.

“If you do have anal sex, you have to use condoms and lube.” Jorge was in full blown nurse mode, and that made things a little easier, but no less embarrassing.

Alex nodded, he’d watched a lot of porn, and he knew the mechanics of sex, but none of it had prepared him for how overwhelming it felt.

“Use lube that has a warming effect, it’ll make you feel more… human.”

Alex could feel his eyes going wide, and it wasn’t helping his rabbit caught in the headlights look.

“We can talk more about this later.” Jorge ruffled his curls, and Alex was glad for a change in the conversation.

Alex stretched and yawned, the warm sun outside sapping his energy, and Jorge gave him space, perching on the edge of the bed.

“You don’t have to go to uni today if you’re not feeling up to it.”

“I want to.”

Jorge nodded, and Alex could see the worry in his eyes.

“I’ll text you on my breaks.”

“Thank you.” Jorge glanced at his watch, his eyes wide when he saw what time it was. “I have to get to work.”

Jorge gave him a kiss on the forehead, his ice cold lips a familiar comfort.

“Have fun at uni.” Jorge rushed out of the room, heading for the shower.

Alex rubbed his nose, the smell of Marc was so obvious on Jorge, but he didn’t know what to say.

*

Alex followed the scent of human Alex through the corridors, not caring that he was heading the opposite way to his class.

The second he saw human Alex he rushed up to him, and he felt self-conscious hugging him in public, but human Alex wrapped his arms around him, the warmth of his skin a feeling that he had missed.

“I’m glad that you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“It’s good to see you.”

“I’ve been so bored at home.”

“I wanted to come visit you, but Marc didn’t want me to catch anything.”

“Jorge wouldn’t have let you in, he made sure that I couldn’t infect anyone else.” Alex hoped that was a good enough excuse, he hated lying to human Alex, but if he’d seen him like that, he’d have known that he wasn’t human.

“Maybe we could hang out one night…?” Human Alex blushed, and Alex felt his cock twitch in anticipation.

“I’d like that.” Alex reached out to hold his hand, the corridors eerily quiet now that everyone was in class, and they both knew that they had to go.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” Human Alex fidgeted with the cord of his hoodie, and Alex nodded, his grin so big that he could feel his skin stretching.

“I’ll see you then.”

Human Alex leant in for a kiss, brief and chaste, but it set Alex’s soul on fire.

_I love you, and I will never take our time together for granted ever again._

*

Alex was alternating between doing his coursework and texting human Alex when the front door opened.

“Honey, I’m home.”

Alex could hear Dani’s smirk, and he stumbled over his own feet as he rushed to the door, able to smell the blood that Dani had on him.

“No Jorge?” Dani’s eyes went wide, using all of his super vampire senses to try and hear him.

“Working a double.” Alex followed Dani to the kitchen, like a puppy waiting for his treat.

Sitting down, Dani still hadn’t taken the blood out of his bag, and Alex didn’t want to seem impatient.

“I thought you would have seen him at the hospital?”

“I don’t think he’s happy that I’m here.” A flicker of a frown crossed Dani’s face, but Alex couldn’t figure out why.

“He is forever in your debt, you saved my life, twice, and we are both eternally grateful.”

“I know, I just thought...” Dani trailed off, and Alex realised what he was saying.

“Ohh...” Alex’s mouth flapped, his mind unable to form sentences, he tried not to think about Jorge’s love life at the best of times. He’d seen Jorge and Dani getting intimate far too many times in the past, and he was grateful that they weren’t having sex in every room like they used to.

He’d assumed that they were having sex when he wasn’t home.

Clearly whatever Jorge had going on with Marc was more than just sex to him.

But it wasn’t his place to tell Dani. He wouldn’t be able to recognise Marc’s scent on him, and Jorge worked with humans all day.

“Sorry, you must be starving.” Dani rushed to get the blood out of his bag, and the smell alone had Alex fidgeting in his seat, determined to show that he was in control.

“It’s okay, I’ve got good at controlling my urges.”

“You must have, if you’re dating a human.” Dani raised an eyebrow, and Alex braced himself for a lecture.

“Are you happy?”

“Yes.” Alex looked down at the table, trying not to stare at the blood. “Have you ever dated a human?”

“A few times, but there’s no future with a mortal.”

Alex sat back in his seat, it was the one thing that he was deliberately not thinking about.

How mortal his boyfriend was.

“Eat.” Dani pushed the blood in Alex’s direction, and he took his time extending his fangs, sipping at the blood as Dani talked about the humans that he dated.

He drank the whole bag without thinking, but from Dani’s almost rosy glow, he’d managed to eat at work.

“Want a few tips on having sex with humans?” Dani smiled, and Alex could tell he was enjoying his awkwardness.

Alex nodded, too embarrassed to speak, but he wanted to be good for human Alex.

“Sex in water is the quickest way to make sure you’re warm enough for them.”

Having ice cold fingers was one thing, but being cold all over, that was harder to explain.

“No-one wants to fuck a corpse.” Dani paused, and Alex could see where his thoughts were going. “Well...”

Alex held his hands up as though he was surrendering, and Dani shook his head.

“Sorry, occupational hazard.”

“How did you fake your credentials?” Alex blurted it out, but he couldn’t figure out how Dani could pretend to be a doctor without raising suspicion.

“Remember Maverick? He’s very good with computers.”

Alex had often wondered what Maverick was up to, they’d have been the same age when they became vampires, and he’d been fun to hang out with.

“I’ll stop talking about sex.” Dani snorted in laughter, and Alex knew that his attempt to change the conversation had been anything but subtle.

“No, I want to know everything.”

Dani talked at length, and by the end of it, Alex’s eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open as he tried to process everything that Dani had told him.

He mentally made a note of it all, and he wished that he could write it down, but it would be hard to explain if anyone ever found it. Pretending to be a writer only explained so much.

***

Alex didn’t have to wait long to have the flat to himself, humans seemed to hate working the night shift, and were glad to let Jorge and Dani take those shifts.

“We have the place to ourselves, Jorge and Dani are both working all night.”

“Dani?”

Alex heard it as an accusation, the guilt welling up as he tried to think of the easiest way to end this conversation.

“He’s a friend from home, he needed somewhere to stay for a little while.”

Human Alex nodded, and Alex was glad that he didn’t have to explain further. Especially since he had no idea if human Alex knew that Marc and Jorge were involved.

The words ‘it’s complicated’ danced on his tongue, but there was so much history between them that he couldn’t explain it all to Alex even if he wanted to.

Dani and his brother were the last thing that he wanted to be talking about, and he smiled as he remembered one of the tips that Dani had told him about.

“I should get a shower.” Alex tugged at his hoodie, and he smiled when he saw human Alex’s eyes go wide, his heart rate quickening at the thought of him naked and wet.

“Want to join me?” Alex winked, leaning in for a kiss before heading to the bathroom.

He stripped off his clothes on the way, leaving a trail as human Alex did the same, both of them hopping around as they wriggled out of their jeans and boxers.

Alex wriggled his hips so that his half-hard cock swung round like a propeller, and human Alex burst out laughing, gasping for air as tears streamed down his cheeks.

He laughed so hard that Alex was starting to worry about him, watching him stumble backwards on to the thankfully closed toilet, and when he caught his breath, he looked at him with love in his eyes.

“You’re such a dork.”

“I’m your dork.” Alex took his hand, helping him up as he pulled him into a messy kiss, enjoying the feeling of his warm skin pressed against him, feeling his heart beat vibrate through him.

“You’re freezing.” Human Alex rubbed his back, kissing at the side of his neck as he surrounded him with his warm body.

“The water will warm me up.” Alex reached into the shower, turning the water on and they both giggled as it splashed them.

The combination of human Alex’s warm skin, and the warm water running over their bodies was like heaven to him, and he let out a deep groan, relaxing into human Alex’s arms as he pulled him closer.

Just the touch of his hard cock against his hip was enough to have him desperate for more, and he ran his hands over his wet skin, unable to believe that a human could be so beautiful, so alive.

Alex traced his fingers between every mole and freckle, kissing and licking at his neck as he tested the limits of his self-control, feeling his pulse racing against his lips.

Warm fingers were trailing between his cheeks, and the noise that fell from his lips were pure lust, his hips bucking so that he could press his hard cock against human Alex’s warm skin.

“I want you.”

“I’m all yours.” Human Alex leant in for another kiss, his moist lips comforting him as his warm fingers circled his hole.

“I want you inside me.” Alex slipped the condom out from under the wash cloth, and human Alex’s grin made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Dani hadn’t mentioned how fiddly it was to put a slippery condom on in the shower, but between them they managed it, with a lot of giggling, and Alex was biting at his lip in anticipation, desperate to feel human Alex’s cock inside him.

Alex braced himself against the tiles, spreading his legs wide as human Alex got into position, and he reached back to encourage him, resting his hand on his hip. The warmth of his cock was like fire, and just as he was about to tell him to get on with it, human Alex thrust in, making him groan as he inched his way in, filling him to the hilt with his red hot cock.

“Fuck, you feel amazing.” Alex clenched tight around him, encouraging him to move, and human Alex started with gentle thrusts, but then Alex was begging for more, and human Alex was only too happy to oblige.

Alex’s eyes fell shut, the pleasure overwhelming him, and he begged for more, pushing back against human Alex as he picked up the pace.

He felt his body tremble, and then warm fingers were wrapped around his cock, stroking clumsily as human Alex tried to thrust at the same time. It didn’t matter that it was uncoordinated, it felt amazing because human Alex was doing everything he could to please him.

His warm breath tickled his ear, and the sound of human Alex gasping and moaning in pleasure was all it took to push him over the edge, heading for a dizzying climax.

Alex cried out in pleasure, his orgasm prolonged by human Alex’s thick cock inside him, and he was glad for his vampire strength right now, enjoying the feeling of human Alex slumped over him, stroking him through the aftershocks.

“That was amazing.”

“You’re amazing.” Alex tried to kiss human Alex over his shoulder, but the angle was awkward and he forced human Alex’s half-hard cock out of him, making them both hiss.

Gasping as he adjusted to the loss, human Alex slumped down against the tiles, sitting at the bottom of the shower as he caught his breath, and Alex sat down next to him, resting his head on his shoulder as he cuddled in.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Human Alex stifled a yawn, and Alex reached up to switch off the water, leaving them both shivering without the warmth of the water.

“Sleepy?”

“I’m so hungry.” Human Alex’s stomach grumbled as if on cue, and they both laughed.

“I think there’s a pizza in the fridge.” Alex had made sure that he had plenty of human food, so his boyfriend didn’t get hungry, and so he didn’t get suspicious.

He stood up slowly, still dizzy from the spectacular orgasm, and he wrapped a towel around his waist before offering one to human Alex.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll go start food.” Alex rushed to the kitchen, hoping that no-one had left any blood bags in the open, and he was relieved to see that Dani had stashed them all in a margarine tub, away from prying human eyes.

He took a quick sip of blood, just enough to keep his strength up, and that was when he noticed something else that most humans didn’t have in their house.

The padlock was hanging there, and Alex rushed to put it on the top of the fridge, hoping that human Alex wasn’t tall enough to see it up there.

“Which pizza would you like?” Alex held them up as human Alex wandered into the room, wearing just his boxers, and Alex wished that his heart could skip a beat at the sight of him.

“Do you even have to ask?” Human Alex smiled, and Alex couldn’t help but smile back.

“The one with pineapple.” Alex snorted in laughter, before frowning at the cooker.

He’d seen many cookers in his life, but he’d never used one, and he really hoped that he was turning the right dials to make it work.

It was quickly warm, and he took that as a victory, putting the pizza in on its metal racks, and he wandered back through to the living room, curling up with human Alex and enjoying the kisses.

Until the smoke alarm was blaring, screeching at a frequency that had Alex wishing he didn’t have super vampire hearing, and he rushed through to the kitchen to see smoke billowing out of the oven.

“Fuck.” Alex rushed to switch it off, and he opened the oven door to try and let the smoke out, but it only made things worse, filling the room with ash as Alex heard someone coughing.

Human Alex fell to the floor, coughing and wheezing as he tried to breathe, and Alex used a dish towel to try and waft the smoke away, but it was no use.

The room was filled with smoke.

He rushed over to human Alex, and his coughing was getting worse, his eyes wide as he gasped for air.

“It’s going to be okay.”

Alex dragged human Alex out of the kitchen, but his breathing had become a wheeze, and he had no idea what to do.

He’d seen people on tv breathing into other people, but he had no idea if it would work for a vampire, and he could sense that human Alex didn’t have long.

Grabbing his phone from the kitchen table, he called the only people that he knew could help.

“I need an ambulance.”

  



	9. Scared

Alex stood trembling in the corner of the hospital room, watching as a small army of nurses and doctors helped human Alex, and he had never felt so powerless.

He sensed Jorge approaching, and he was glad to have some support, but Jorge grabbed his wrist, dragging him out of the room and into the nearest storage cupboard with a scowl on his face.

“Have you fed on him?” The panic in Jorge’s eyes said it all, he was scared, and Alex felt so small.

“No, no, no. I burnt the pizza and there was smoke everywhere and he started coughing and then he couldn’t breathe and I didn’t know what to do so I called an ambulance.” Alex’s lip trembled, bloody tears streaming down his cheeks as Jorge rushed to wipe them away.

“I’m sorry, I just...”

“You don’t trust me.”

“I do, I do.” Jorge held him close, and Alex was grateful that his uniform was already covered in blood splatters from whatever emergency he’d been dealing with before this.

“I’m just terrified of what humans will do to us if they found out.”

“I know.” Alex couldn’t look Jorge in the eyes, scared that he was disappointed in him.

Jorge kissed his forehead, stroking his wild curls behind his ears as he looked into his eyes.

“Think you can control your tears long enough to see Alex?”

“Yes.” Alex sniffed, wiping his nose on his thankfully black sleeve.

Jorge licked the last of his tears away, and Alex managed a small smile.

“I need to get changed, are you okay to find the room on your own?”

“Stay with me?”

Jorge squeezed his hand, and Alex felt safe with him by his side.

“I will always protect you.”

*

For a room with no-one talking, it was a noisy room, filled with the sound of machines beeping away to themselves, and the hiss of the oxygen that was going to human Alex’s mask.

The humans all breathed a sigh of relief when human Alex woke up, and everyone rushed to hug him.

“Give him a little space.” Jorge rested his hand on Marc’s shoulder, and Alex couldn’t miss the faint blush on Marc’s cheek.

“How are you feeling?” Jorge adjusted Alex’s mask so that the straps weren’t pressing into his skin.

“Like I’ve just ran a marathon.” Human Alex smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Jorge flashed a little light in human Alex’s eyes, before checking the numbers on the various machines and noting them down on the chart.

“I’ll be back to check on you every half hour, okay?” Jorge rested his hand on human Alex’s, before turning to leave, but there were so many people crowded in the small room.

Marc stood up, giving Jorge a hug, and from the way that they held each other close, Jorge stroking his back, their relationship was clearly more than just casual sex.

“Thank you.” Marc sniffed, tears welling up in his eyes, and Alex knew that he had feared the worst.

“I’m just doing my job.” Jorge’s smile had Marc smiling too, and for a second it looked like Marc was leaning in for a kiss, before thinking better of it.

Dani poked his head around the door, and Jorge’s eyes went wide, scowling at Dani as he ignored him.

“Alex, do you want a lift?”

“No, I’m going to stay here tonight.” Alex glanced at Jorge, hoping that he was doing the right thing.

“Okay, I’ll see you at home.”

That got Marc’s attention, and Alex looked between him and Jorge, waiting for tempers to flare over.

Dani disappeared before Marc could say something, but the tension in the room was so thick that Alex could feel the adrenaline coursing through Marc’s veins, his heart pounding as though it was going to beat right out of his chest.

Alex ran his tongue over his teeth, checking his fangs were still hidden, but the sound of blood pumping through the humans was ringing in his ears.

“Marc, can I have a word with you?” Jorge motioned to the door, and Marc nodded, giving human Alex a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.

Just because they were outside the room, didn’t mean Alex couldn’t hear them, and he focused on their conversation as Tito chatted away to human Alex.

Marc’s breathing was heavy, as though he was expecting a fight, and Jorge was fidgeting on the spot.

“You have a boyfriend?” Marc’s accusation made Jorge stand still, and Alex could feel the tension.

“Dani? No.” Jorge’s laugh was forced, but no-one apart from him, and Dani, would be able to tell.

“Is he…?”

“No, he’s not Alex’s boyfriend.” Jorge snorted in laughter, and Marc leant against the wall.

“He’s an old friend from home, and he needed somewhere to stay.” Jorge moved, and from the way Marc’s heart rate crept up, there was clearly some physical contact. “I’m sharing a room with Alex.”

“How long have you known Dani?”

“I’ve known him since the forties.” Jorge laughed, and Marc laughed along. Humans were great at assuming anything that didn’t fit their limited knowledge of the world had to be a joke.

“You haven’t called.” Marc couldn’t hide the pain in his voice, and Alex could picture him pouting.

“Alex was sick for a couple of weeks, so between work and him I didn’t have any free time.”

“What about this week?” Marc’s smile was clear, and Alex knew that Jorge was smiling too.

“I’ll text you when I know my shifts.”

“Deal.”

The sound of lips pressing against lips was strangely intimate, and Alex tried not to listen, but his curiosity got the better of him.

“Go, spend time with your brother.”

Marc walked back into the room smiling, and Alex wondered how long it would take for Jorge to tell him about their ‘thing’ that they had going on.

But now wasn’t the time.

***

Human Alex was let out of hospital the next morning, and Alex had been told to order food rather than trying to make it himself.

It was the safest way.

Jorge still wasn’t home when the sun came up, and Alex could sense Dani’s unease, pacing around the kitchen when he should have been dead to the world.

“Morning.” Alex traipsed into the kitchen wearing only his boxers, but it was more clothes than Dani had on.

Some things never changed.

Dani mumbled something, and Alex grabbed a bag of blood from the fridge before sitting down to eat, Dani sitting next to him as he took a swig of the blood.

With all the worry and chaos last night, he’d forgotten to feed, and his body was crying out for more as Dani handed the bag of blood back to him.

They drank in silence, only the whirr of the fridge to remind them that time was still trudging onwards.

“What’s with Jorge and that human?”

“Marc?”

“Yeah...” Dani looked tired, he hadn’t talked about the years since they’d all gone their separate ways, but it was clear that things hadn’t been kind to him.

“I don’t know, he hasn’t talked to me about it.” Alex wasn’t lying exactly, but he felt strange not telling Dani everything. Although it wasn’t his place to share Jorge’s secrets, and he definitely didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of whatever it was that the two of them had going on.

“He’s barely spoken to me since I got here.”

“Jorge’s just not used to having other people around.”

“That never used to stop him.”

“We’ve been alone for decades.”

“At least you had each other.” Dani’s eyes got dark, and Alex could tell that he was on the verge of tears.

And then his phone buzzed, vibrating against the wooden table and making them both jump.

Alex didn’t listen in, but given that Dani didn’t know anyone here, it had to be the hospital calling.

“This is Doctor Pedrosa.”

Dani rolled his eyes, making Alex smile, and Dani managed a small smile in return.

“I’ll be there in half an hour.”

Dani ended the call, and Alex saw the time, he was going to be late for uni at this rate.

“Go to go, they’ve misplaced a body...” Dani sighed, and Alex rushed in for a hug.

“I’m so glad that you’re here.” Alex held him close, stroking his back as he buried his head against the crook of Dani’s neck.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

***

“I’m covering the late shift.” Jorge waved goodbye from the door, and Alex waved back before catching sight of Dani frowning.

Dani raised an eyebrow, and Alex kept his head down, reading the same sentence over and over again until he heard the front door close.

“He’s lying.” Dani’s voice was little more than a whisper, but he knew that Alex could hear him clearly from across the living room.

“How do you know?”

“They’ve got a whole class of trainee doctors on night shift all this week, so there’s no need for extra nurses unless there’s a major incident.”

“And if there was a major incident, they’d need you too.” Alex nodded, he knew that it was only a matter of time before Jorge couldn't keep up the lies.

“Exactly.”

Alex tapped his fingers against the edge of his text book, and he could hear all of the unspoken questions that were running through Dani’s mind.

“Why won’t he just tell us?” Alex didn’t like that he sounded so young, but he had never felt so left out, Jorge always told him everything, or so he thought.

“Because he’s in love, and that never ends well with a human.” Dani shrugged as if he was apologising, but it was the truth.

Alex flinched, it was the one thing that he couldn’t bring himself to accept, that his relationship with human Alex had an expiration date, and the clock was already ticking.

*

“Sorry I’m late, it’s getting harder and harder to sneak around.” Jorge leant in for a kiss, delighting in the feeling of Marc’s warm lips pressed against his.

“I think Tito has figured it out, and Alex is getting suspicious.”

Jorge nodded, he was sure that his Alex had figured it out, and Dani was watching him closely.

“Maybe we should just tell them?”

Jorge froze, and he knew that he was only delaying the inevitable, but telling Alex would mean admitting that this was serious, that he had feelings for a human.

That meant accepting that one day he would have to break Marc’s heart, leave him without explanation, before he figured out that he didn’t age.

“I think this can wait until after we’ve had sex.” Jorge grinned as Marc dragged him to the bed, but it was only a temporary respite from his thoughts.

Once they were cuddled up in each other’s arms, the worries returned, filling his mind like a fever.

Every second they spent together only made it harder to walk away.

***

Weeks passed, and yet Alex could see the pain in Jorge’s eyes every time he went to see human Alex.

Even though he’d shown that he could control himself, Jorge was still terrified that he would accidentally do something to hurt a human, and they’d have to run.

Every time they had to move it got harder to stay under the radar, make sure that humans didn’t find out what they were.

Alex had a plan.

“Let me turn Alex, make him a vampire.” Alex batted his eyelashes, but his hope was short lived.

“No.”


	10. Dying

“Please?” Alex tugged at Jorge’s hoodie, and Jorge felt his heart breaking, bloody tears dripping down his face.

“It would not be right to turn him without his permission.”

“You turned me without my permission.” Alex looked up at him with big eyes, and Jorge reached out to stroke the side of his face.

Jorge was never going to say that he shouldn’t have, and not a day went by when he wasn’t grateful that he had Alex by his side.

“I don’t regret my decision, but it should have been yours to make.”

***

_1917_

It wasn’t his war to fight, but he’d signed up like so many of his friends.

He thought that he would return home a hero.

But now he was scared and alone in a foreign land, his body sweating and shaking as he collapsed to the ground.

The damp grass surrounded him as he gasped for air, nature reclaiming his dying body.

He peeled back his jacket to look at his wound, the formerly white cloth black with infection, and he knew that this was the end.

Tears stung at his eyes as he thought of Alex and his family, they would never know what happened him to him.

He lay gasping on the ground until the moon was full in the sky, each breath more painful than the last, when he heard the long grass rustling.

A stranger stood over him, his clothing unfamiliar, and Jorge tried to reach for his gun, but his right arm was limp.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

There was something odd about the stranger, but at least he was a civilian.

The enemy would have killed him by now.

“I will save you.” The stranger stretched out his hand, but Jorge was too weak to take it, and a horrible thought crossed his mind.

“Are you an angel?”

The stranger smiled, and Jorge tried to back away as he crouched down next to him, but he couldn’t get his body to cooperate.

Jorge sucked in his last breath as the stranger hovered by his neck, checking for a pulse, and he felt his vision fading as pain shot through his neck.

And then everything went black.

*

Jorge woke to absolute darkness, his body smothered by cold dirt, and he tried to brush it off, but he was surrounded by it.

The panic set in, his hands frantically digging at the earth with no idea how long he had before he would suffocate.

It felt like an eternity until he clawed his way out, screaming as he burst through the ground.

The cool night air was a blessed relief, his chest heaving as he gasped for air, relieved to be free of his premature grave.

His fever must have been so severe that they thought he was dead.

Coughing up dirt, he looked around for other graves, but there were no signs of disturbed earth apart from where he’d been buried.

There was no church, or village, and Jorge wondered why someone would have buried him out here.

Naked.

At least the air wasn’t too cold, but he couldn’t walk around an unknown land with no clothes.

No-one would help him like this.

Stalking through the forest, he felt drained as the sun started to peek over the horizon, and he found himself a hollowed out tree to sleep in, resting his weary body.

The moon was full in the sky when he woke, and he felt rejuvenated by his rest.

He followed the moon, and it led him to a small river, the water cool and clear, and he luxuriated in the feeling of it, washing the caked mud from his skin.

The reflection of his image showed a thin, but strong, man, his body unaffected by the ravages of war.

Trailing his fingers over his chest, it felt smooth and clean for the first time in god knows how long, and that was when he noticed something curious.

His wound was gone, his skin unblemished, and he was amazed by how well the mud seemed to have miraculously cured his infection and healed his wound.

The only scars left were in his mind, hidden from the world.

*

Jorge walked for days, his body growing weaker with every step, his skin flaking with exposure and malnutrition.

He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d eaten a warm meal.

Time was meaningless to him, the forest never ending, and he was convinced that he was wandering in circles through the thick lush trees.

He had tried to sustain himself on leaves and berries, but they did little to sate his hunger.

And then he came across a wounded solider.

He was barely alive, his pulse so weak that it wouldn’t be long before he was gone, and Jorge crouched down next to him,

Wishing he could do something for the solider, he watched as he sucked in his last breath.

“You can rest now.”

A revolting thought crossed his mind, his hunger clouding his judgement, the urges taking over as he bit at his lip, making it bleed.

He was starving, and as awful as he felt for the soldier’s family, there was no point them both dying out here.

Tearing at the flesh with his teeth, he felt disgusted by himself, but he had to eat, keep his strength up so that he could make his way home.

He had to get back to his family.

***

Jorge’s clothes were filthy and torn, the guilt of stealing from a corpse long since faded.

He had not been fast or skilled enough to catch any of the small animals that lived in the forest, but there seemed to be an ever increasing number of corpses for him to feed on.

Staggering through the night, he caught sight of a lamp flickering in the distance, and he stumbled towards it, not caring that his bare feet were bloody and torn.

He cried when he saw that the building was a church, a place of compassion and safety, and he ran towards it, praying that there would be someone there to feed and clothe him.

The heavy oak door had a wrought iron handle, and Jorge struggled with it, his strength failing him as he cursed the heavens for giving him hope only to cruelly snatch it away.

Jorge turned to leave, and he was half-way down the dirt path when the door flew open, bathing him in a warm yellow glow.

“Are you okay, my child?” The priest spoke in familiar words, and Jorge rushed towards him, but he didn’t expect his response.

The shriek of horror cut through his soul, and then the priest was sprinting into the church, chanting something in Latin under his breath.

Jorge stepped closer, ready to explain that he’d been walking for days, and that was why he was filthy and bloody.

But then the priest said something terrifying.

“Get back, Vampire!”

Jorge looked behind him, expecting to see someone else, but it was just him and the priest here.

When he turned back, the priest had a dagger, and Jorge held his hands up like he was surrendering, wondering how he could have found a priest that had clearly gone mad from isolation.

“I mean you no harm.”

The priest carried on chanting in Latin, holding the dagger out as though it might cut him.

Jorge caught sight of himself in the silver dagger, bloody tears running down his cheek, his fangs extended, and he stumbled back in shock.

“No.” Jorge recoiled in horror, but he couldn’t escape himself, the taste of blood filling his mouth as he bit down on his tongue with his… fangs.

This couldn’t be right, it had to be a trick of his mind, lack of food and water making him delirious.

The priest lunged at him while he was distracted by his thoughts, and Jorge reacted without thinking, his teeth tearing at the priest’s neck, drinking his blood until his hunger was sated.

Jorge curled up in a ball, the dying priest still twitching and gasping next to him as he bled to death.

It all had to be a hallucination, a flashback to the violent war that he’d escaped from.

There were no such thing as vampires, so there was no way that he could be one.

Or could he?

_Only awake at night. Bloody tears. Fangs. Feeds on human blood._

_Fuck, he was a vampire._

***

_1919_

Being a vampire had made his journey home slower than he could ever have anticipated, travelling only at night, sustaining himself on unsuspecting victims, leaving them weakened but alive.

He had learned to control his urges, and all he wanted was to see his family one last time.

There was no way that he could stay with them, not now that he was a vampire, it would put them in too much danger.

He was going to say goodbye.

*

As he approached the edge of town, he was excited to see his family again, and he rushed towards their small farm house, surprised to still see a lamp burning at this ungodly hour.

The door was creaking in the wind, and Jorge crept in, expecting to see everyone sleeping, but the first thing he noticed was the smell of death.

He had hoped that this would be a joyous reunion, but instead he returned to find his brother sick and dying.

Years later, he would find out the disease was called Spanish flu.

“Jorge?” Alex’s voice was little more than a whisper, gasping for every breath as though he was drowning in air.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Jorge pressed a kiss to his forehead, his skin feverishly warm.

He knew that he should let Alex die, that he shouldn't meddle in the affairs of humans, since he was no longer one of them.

But he couldn't bear to watch Alex suffer, when he knew that he could take away all of his pain, make sure that he would never know illness or injuries again.

“I’m going to make you feel better.” Jorge could sense Alex’s pulse growing weaker.

He had to act now if he wanted his baby brother to live.

Comforting him as he cradled his head, Jorge stroked his wild curls out of the way, and then his teeth were grazing his neck, finding his weak pulse so he could get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

"This will hurt, but afterwards you will feel like a god."

Jorge bit down on Alex's neck, muffling his screams with his hand, and he drank until Alex was silent, his body still.

He tore open his own wrist, flinching as the blood started flowing, and he pressed his wrist to Alex's lips, letting the blood drain into his mouth as the wound slowly closed up.

Seeing his brother lifeless and pale broke his heart, and he prayed to a god that he no longer believed in to save his brother, resurrect him as a vampire.

He carried Alex into the forest, the silvery light of the moon making his pale skin look translucent.

The sun was coming up as Jorge finished digging a grave big enough for the both of them. He didn't want Alex waking up alone, he knew first hand how terrifying it was to wake up after being buried alive.

As the sun set after their third day, Jorge felt his brother wake, Alex’s panic setting in the moment he realised he was buried.

Alex let out an unholy scream, and Jorge forced the dirt out of the way, letting Alex feel the air against his skin.

He was still screaming when Jorge had uncovered the rest of his body, and Jorge held him tight, whispering words of comfort until he calmed down.

“What happened to me?” Alex looked at his dirt covered body, his eyes wide with confusion.

“You were sick and I made you better.”

Alex took a breath, his lungs no longer wheezing, although he would be pale for all eternity.

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> *and obviously none of this happened, it is all a figment of my twisted imagination ;)


End file.
